


January Nights (Book One)

by childhoodillusions



Series: January Nights [1]
Category: House of Anubis
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Angst, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Mystery, Romance, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2019-12-07 05:57:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 38,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18230858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/childhoodillusions/pseuds/childhoodillusions
Summary: Mily Bellefleur has got to live at the weirdest boarding school ever. Between the constant pranks, over bearing homework assignments, and overlapping romances, how could it get any weirder? Until a new girl comes to Anubis House, she didn't think it could. This is the story of Mily and how one year can change everything she thought she knew.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!! So this is a story about an OC I've created for the world of House of Anubis. The show is phenomenal and I remember watching it when it first aired all the way back. It's still one of my favorites and it still sin't done the justice it deserves so here I am rolling in with my girl Mily. I'm going to follow along with the story line, but some things will be tweaked an/or changed (and by that I mean minor bits of dialogue and so forth, not main events). So bare with me and I hope you'll give this story a chance! 
> 
> DISCLAIMER; none of the characters and/or plots in this story belong to me besides my own characters. All rights reserved to Nickelodeon.

Sundays had always been quieter than any other day of the week. The school week was of course usually hectic, and Saturday of course was always a day of fun for the student; a day to go into town, get a break from school, etc. Sundays were usually the calmest day of the week. Which is what made the morning of Monday January 27th, 2011 weird. For the most part, Monday mornings were normally the loudest. It was a quiet morning in contrast to the day that it would turn out to be. It was so quiet that morning, that one couldn’t even begin to figure out how the day could go so wrong.

At exactly five fifty seven, Mily Bellefleur woke up as she usually did; early enough for the sun to be shining in through the window of her room. The sun tended to be the thing that woke her up. She always enjoyed the feeling of the warm rays on her face in the morning. It prompted her to be an early riser. Mily sat up in her bed; brushing strands of her brown curly hair out of her eyes. She looked at the clock on her night stand and saw the time, before getting up and stretching out achy limbs.

Seemingly enough, Mily went over to the window and peeked outside to see the sun just making it’s way over the side of the window. The view she had become used, however despite seeing it every morning she still enjoyed seeing it every morning. It looked like it was going to be a nice day out; contrast to the usually rainy weather that they had in Liverpool. Mily preferred rainy weather to sunny, but it was still nice to have a sunny day every now and then.

Mily quickly pulled on a sweater over her black tank top and sweatpants before grabbing  her latest read and making her way downstairs. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of her feet padding on the wooden stairs. It seemed that no one had been up yet; only Mily. Which she wasn’t too upset about. She never minded being able to sit in the living room without all the noise that came from her housemates. Again, not that she didn’t love her housemates; she did. In fact to her, they were like a second family. It was just a nice change of pace to have it be completely quiet.

Before she settled herself into read, she went into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. Most people in the house drank tea in the morning, but there was always one or two people who didn’t mind having a cup. Mily liked her coffee just plain black. It managed to wake her up and wasn’t as sweet as a milkshake. She put kettle before sitting herself down at the table, sliding on her reading glasses, and opening up her book. She was currently right in the middle of reading _War and Peace_. It was a challenging read but she rather enjoyed the complicity of it all. Besides, she was able to breeze books pretty quickly. That’s why she was in the top of her class in English.

After pouring herself a cup of coffee, she began to catch up on her book; occasionally taking a sip of her drink. The morning went on like this for at least another hour before someone had made their way into the kitchen. She was a hundred and four more pages in before looking up; seeing Trudy enter the room.

“Good morning, dearie.” Trudy let out a yawn, causing Mily to smile.

“Morning, Trudy.” she responded. “I made a pot of coffee if you wanted any.”

Trudy grinned at the girl in thanks before pouring herself a cup as well. Unlike Mily, she poured cream and sugar into her coffee; join the girl at the table.

“I still don’t know how you wake up so early.” she chuckled with a shake of her head. “You’d think with how hard you work in school you’d want to take an extra hour of sleep.”

“Yeah, but in the morning it’s quiet. I like reading when the sun comes up.” Trudy only shook her head before heading into the kitchen to make breakfast. Trudy was amazing. She did everything for the members of Anubis House and more. Her cooking was amazing, and she was almost like a mom to them. In fact to Mily she was more of a mom than her actual mother. Mily had known Trudy since she was ten years old. She’d been at the boarding school since, and had always been able to come to Trudy is she ever needed anything. Trudy was always there for all of them twenty four seven. It was a wonder how the woman has so much energy.

“So, any exciting news from your mum, then?” she finished mixing the large amount of pancake batter. “Where’s she travelling now?”

“No word just yet.” Mily explained. “But the last I heard, she was in the Swiss Alps.”

“Ooh, well that’s exciting! I’m sure she’ll write you as soon as she can.”

“Yeah, probably…” she trailed off. Mily’s mother was a writer. She wrote tons of travel books which required her to always be on the move. Mily used to travel the world with her. She could remember vivid cities, rain forests, deserts and so much more. It was like living a dream life. Unfortunately, after an incident in an old Scottish castle, Mily’s mother decided that it was too dangerous for her to bring her daughter with her on her travels. Besides, it made it easier for her to work on her books. That was when she came to Amun Boarding School. Her mother was a distant friend of it’s principle, Mr. Sweet. Despite her being an age behind the youngest class, they figured out a way for her to be home schooled there before joining the first year class the next year. Since then, she’d spent every year at the school.

When she was younger, she was able to stay at the school over the summers seeing as her and her mother never had a definite home. There was no point with all of the travels. The only place remotely close had been the place where she grew up during her younger years. Her mother had her when she was in France, writing a new book there. She grew up in a small place in the heart of Paris. They’d been staying with distant relatives of her mother at the time who had been happy to have them there. As Mily got older, her mother decided it would be time to start travelling again. So at the age of five, Mily left the only place she’d been able to call home to travel.

As Trudy continued to finish making pancakes, the rest of her housemates began to stir from their bedrooms. The smell of cooking pancakes it’s definitely what lured Alfie Lewis out of bed and into the kitchen. There was no other reason for the boy to be awake so early.

“Morning, Alfie.” she smiled before taking another sip of her coffee.

“Morning, Mils.” he said before rushing into the kitchen. “Are the pancakes almost done Trudy?”

“Just about. Why don’t you go wake everyone else up. Call them into the kitchen. And maybe you’ll just get an extra pancake.” Alfie didn’t need to be told twice. Soon enough, he was rushing up and down the hallway of Anubis House yelling ‘PANCAKES’ at the top of his longs. Mily all but rolled her eyes at the boys antics. It had seemed her peaceful morning was finally over.

In the short span of fifteen minutes, the morning went from peaceful and quiet to loud and noisy as the many students living in Anubis House had settled themselves at the table. All the while, Mily had continued to read her book in the hopes that when pancakes were served, they’d quiet down so she could focus. As she continued to read, someone grabbed the book out of her hands and held it over her head.

“I’m quite worn out by these callers. However, I’ll see her and no more!” Jerome mocked the story as he laughed and held it above Mily’s head.

“Jerome Clarke, I swear to god. Give me back my book!”

“I’ll give it to you on the condition you do my French homework.”

“Absolutely not.” Jerome only chuckled before throwing the book across the room and into Alfie’s arms. Mily let out a frustrated sigh before trying to get the book back before one of them messed it up. She’d taken it out of the library so she had to give it back in the end.

“Oh, leave her alone and just give the nerd her book.” Joy came to Mily’s rescue. She grinned at the girl before snatching the book out of Jerome’s hands.

“Honestly, I don’t know why I even bother trying to read down here. It’s like living with a herd of buffalo.” Mily settled back down into her seat, next to Joy, who only chuckled at what she said.

“Honestly, Mils, you should know by now that they’re never going to give up trying to torment you. You’re too easy.” she chuckled. Mily only rolled her eyes before finishing up her breakfast and clearing her spot. She went upstairs to change out of her sweat pants and into her school uniform.

“Hey, Mil’s?” a knock came from her door as Joy entered the room. “We’re probably going to head over to the courtyard to hang out before first bell. Do you want to come with?”

“Maybe in a little bit.” she decided. “I still have to add the finish touches to my English paper.”

“You’ll have lunch to finish it and all of tonight. It’s isn’t too until tomorrow. Just come to the courtyard with us and do it there if you really must.” she suggested; coming to sit on the girls bed. Mily thought it over for a few minutes before sighing and closing her laptop.

“I _suppose_ that finishing it outside wouldn’t be too awful.” she gave in as Joy practically squealed in happiness before exiting the room. The weather wasn’t too bad outside so it wouldn't hurt her to get some sun. She quickly packed away her laptop along with the rest of her school things and made her way downstairs.

Outside it was weirdly warmer out than it had been in the past month. At a whopping ten degrees, she wasn’t all that bothered by the temperature. From Anubis House, the walk to school wasn’t too long; about five minutes tops. The courtyard that day was currently filled with about half of the student body. She figured that most people were itching to enjoy the warmer weather and sun as much as they could. It took only a few seconds to spot the others. Fabian, Joy and Patricia were all outside sitting on the grass. Joy caught her coming over and waved to her.

“There you are!” she ran over to her. “Took you long enough.”

“Sorry, I had to get all of my things. I have to finish this paper cause I know that I won’t want to do it later.” she explained as they made their way over to everyone else.

“Yeah, says the straight A student without batting an eyelash.” Fabian rolled his eyes at her, causing her to scoff at him.

“What, all I’m saying is that you work hard enough that it _should_ make you exhausted. But yet you just do everything like it’s no big deal.”

“Look, I can’t help that I’m just accustomed to the work ethic of a boarding school. It’s not that bad.”

“Um, almost a test every week is pretty bad to me.” Patricia spoke up while fiddling with one of her bracelets. “Along with the miles of homework and projects they give us.”

“Yeah, I’m practically drowning in work.” Joy complained; stretching her legs out onto the grass. Mily only rolled her eyes.

“You wouldn’t be drowning if you focused on your school work rather than your movie nights you two do.” Mily explained. It was true that Mily was a straight A student, but that was only because she put in the time and hard work needed for it. She wasn’t one to stay up late watching movies or doing her nails or things like that. She knew that her education was important to her so she tended to focus on it.

“Speaking of movie marathons, Joy, look what came this morning.” Patricia handed Joy a box of something.

“Yes!” she exclaimed with a smile looking a the package.

“BFF box-set marathon tonight?” Patricia asked.

“You’re on!” Mily rolled her eyes before finishing typing out her English paper. She had only one more paragraph to finish and now it was all up to editing the paper. Fabian looked over her shoulder; reading a part of the paper.

“ _Shelly shows us that even though there may be a number of different things that science allows us to do, it doesn’t always mean that we should. The’re always going to be a difference between can and should._ ” he read aloud. “That sounds really good.”

“Thanks.” she grinned. “I just have to edit it now and then I’m all set.”

“Looks good to me.” he shrugged. Mily closed her laptop and leaned back into the grass. It was peaceful. The sky had barely a cloud in it, and the sun was shining right on them; making the grass warm against the breeze in the air. If she wanted to, Mily could just take a nap right there.

Until Alfie and Jerome came.

One moment there was peace, and the next moment there was chaos. Immediately following the dramatic screaming of Alfie and Jerome, there was a basket of water balloons dumped onto Mily’s face; causing her to nearly scream as she went from pleasantly warm, to drenched and ice cold.

“ALFIE! JEROME!” she sat up; coughing up whatever water had managed to go up her nose and in her mouth. The two just pointed to her; laughing at their own accomplishment.

“I swear, I’ve never seen them go after someone like they go after you.” Patricia couldn’t help but laugh at the state of her friend. Mily only glared at her slightly before brushing strands of wet hair out of her face.

“Crap, you can totally see my bra through this. I’ll have to go and change.” grumbling. “Cover for me in French, will you?” she picked up her stuff, which was luckily not soaked, and began to make her way back to the house. A breeze blew her way; making the wet clothing on her even colder. Mily got back to the house and changed into her spare uniform she had before heading back to the school building.

The halls were almost empty by the time she’d rushed in; making her way into the French classroom just before Mrs. Andrews had wandered in herself.

“So this afternoon, we’re going to have, as promised, a practice exam.” A collective groan came from the students. Before Mrs Andrews could continue, Amber Millington’s voice spoke out above the crowd.

“But Daddy, you _have_ to extend my credit card limit.” she whined into herself phone.

“Phone off, Amber.” Mrs. Andrews spoke with an annoyance which could lead one to believe that she’d had this conversation with the girl before.

“But I’ve seen a pair of really important shoes.” Mily always felt bad for Mrs. Andrews, and all the teachers in fact, because none of them were able to grab Amber’s attention. In fact, the only person who was able to grab Amber’s full attention was the person who was to walk into the door precisely in that minute. Mick Campbell waltzed into the French classroom drenched in sweat and not even in his school uniform; grabbing the attention of the entire class.

“Daddy, I’ve got to go. I’m in school!” she quickly shut her phone. “Mick, you’re back!”

Mick nodded to the girl before turning to Mrs. Andrews; who frankly looked like she was going to wring someone’s neck if there as one more disruption.

“Sorry I’m late.”  said with a sincere look on his face. Mrs. Andrews just continued to pass out the papers to the rest of the class.

“You might have changed first,” she answered before handing him a paper. “Just try not to perspire all over the paper.”

The rest of the class got started on their French exam while Mick settled into his seat. Mick tended to show up late to class sometimes and Mily would admit, that she did admire the dedication Mick had to his training. It was one to match her own dedication to her school work and theatre.

“Now, Miss Bellefleur, if you would be so kind as help me by marking these papers from last week.” Mily nodded before taking the papers from the older woman and grabbing a seat in a small desk in the front corner of the room.

Due to Mily spending her first few years in France, French became a second language to her. She spoke fluent French; frequently slipping into the tongue either when she was nervous about something or always when she talked to her mother. Simply because there was no other language course at the school, she became an aid during her French period. She helped Mrs. Andrews out with whatever she needed help with, which was usually grading papers.

The classroom was silent for a while a the class finished up with their exams. Mily was beginning to get frustrated while grading the papers, because there were so many kids in the class who she knew _could_ be getting straight A’s in the class if they just put in the work. The sound of snickers caught her off guard and sending her gaze over to Alfie and Jerome. Alfie as fiddling with something in his hands, while Jerome kept a look out; that is until he locked eyes with Mily.

 _What are you doing,_ she mouthed to him. He only shook his head at her before Alfie raised his hand. Mily looked down at the papers; not wanting to give into his antics.

“Mrs, A?” Alfie called out.

“Yes, Alfie?” she answered while looking up a him.

“Nosebleed, it’s a gusher.” Mily all but rolled her eyes. This was probably the third one this year; all different teachers. It wouldn’t be too long before someone caught him in the act of creating the fake bloody tissue.

“Infirmary, quickly.’ she batted a hand toward the boy who promptly got up and went towards the door. Alfie must have done something to show that it was fake, because soon the entire class had erupted in giggles.

Before Alfie could speed out the door, everyone’s focus was interrupted by Mr. Sweet walking through the classroom door; stopping Alfie in his tracks.

“Festina lente, boy. More haste, less speed.” the teacher said before moving so Alfie could head out the door. “Sorry to interrupt, Mrs. Andrews. Joy, there’s someone to see you in my office.”

Joy looked up; confused by the request, but nonetheless grabbed her stuff and began to head out the door. She turned to wave at Patricia and Fabian before heading out the door with the Principle. The rest of the class continued with their papers and acting as if the incident had never happened. Mily, however was confused. The school didn’t regularly have visitors, much less for the students, so she wondered who had come to see Joy. She’d have to ask her about it later.

The bell for class to end rang and Mrs. Andrew’s desk was swarming with people all trying to turn in their exams so that they would leave. Mily waited for the swarm to leave before going up to the teachers desk and handing her the stack of freshly graded papers.

“Here you are, Miss.” she said with a small smile. “A lot of people did well. There’s just a few people that keep slipping. But some of them are just not putting in enough time to do well.”

Mrs. Andrews took the papers from the girl, and went over some of the markings and notes she’d left. After a minute or so, she looked up at the girl with a satisfied, and slightly proud smile.

“Merci, Mily.” she said. “I don’t know how I’d get through all these papers without my assistant.”

“I’m always here to help. I enjoy it sometimes. The only time I really ever get to speak French is when my mother calls me.”

“Ah, yes, well I’m sure it must be nice to get to use it in here every now and then.” she stated before stacking the papers on the corner of her desk. Mily went over to grab her stuff and leave before Mrs. Andrews spoke up once more.

“Mily, I wonder if you’ve ever thought about becoming a French teacher when you’re older.” she crossed her arms; leaning back in her chair. “You speak the language perfectly and you’ve got a passion for it. You also seem to be good with helping people to correct themselves.” Mily chuckled at the thought.

“As much as I would love to Mrs. Andrews, I don’t know if I would be the best candidate.” she explained; placing her bag over her shoulder. “Besides, I’d miss theatre and singing far too much.”

“Well, I wouldn’t put it out of your mind just yet.” she explained; going back to grading more papers herself. “Finding a life and a career in the world of theatre is extremely hard and I would hate to see someone with such a talent as your waste it.”

Mily said goodbye to Mrs. Andrews before heading out of the classroom and over to her locker. She had to exchange her French things for her Biology things. As she switched out her different books, she was stopped abruptly by something being thrown into her locker. The object was light and immediately fell into her hands. Checking to see what it was, she nearly gagged and all but through it to the ground upon seeing that it was the fake bloody tissue Alfie used from earlier.

“Every time, Mildew!” she heard Jerome and Alfie cackling from behind her. “You’re too easy.”

Mily would have probably been furious with them had she not been fighting the urge to vomit; eyes closed and gripping onto the locker door.

“How many times must I ask you to stop!” she growled at them. “You know I don’t do well with blood.”

“It’s just too funny.” Mily quickly got her bearings before closing the locker and attempting to get to her next class. Key word: attempting. It was a bit hard once Jerome and Alfie had swung their arm around her shoulders; guiding her away from the direction she was trying to go to.

“Is there a reason that you’re keeping me from my chem class?” she asked in annoyance.

“Who says we’re keeping you from your chem class?” Alfie said with a grin as they led her into the common room and up to where the stage is.

“Considering chem is in the opposite direction, I’d say you’re kidnapping me.” she retorted.

“Ooh, is Mildew getting feisty?” Jerome snickered; looking up to his partner in crime. “We don’t get to see the snippy side of Mildew very often.”

Mily did everything she could to not roll her eyes at their antics before turning around to face the two. “Well, what _do_ you want then?”

“We would like to propose a sort off…”

“Alliance per say.” Her eyes narrowed at this. “And by alliance, you mean…?”

“You see, some of the younger years are looking for someone to tutor them in french, and we have decided to create our very own, five star tutoring agency.”

“Jerome, I’m not going to help you scam kids for help in French. If someone wants help, I’ll help them willingly and for _free._ ”

“You see, that’s the problem with you Mildew.” he rolled his eyes. “You don’t know a gold mine when you see one.” Mily pushed past the two of them and made her way back to her chem class; missing the mischievous look that the two exchanged in her absence.

The rest of Mily’s day was terribly mundane; her moving through each class with as much enthusiasm as the last. By the time school was finally over, she was bored beyond belief. She planned to look through a new music selection she had recently bought. There were a few songs she wanted to test out on her keyboard.

Mily returned to the house and went straight up to her bedroom and closed the door behind her. Before doing anything, she first changed into a vertical striped skirt, white Beatles t-shirt, and a cream colored cardigan. She pulled up her desk chair to her keyboard and began to sort through the binder of sheet music that she had. Her eyes fixed on a page she had opened up to, before setting the book onto the top of the keyboard. She’d looked at this one a few times, and was ready to perfect it. She knew it’d be a good audition song eventually.

Started out playing the intro softly; feeling the soft press of the keys under fingers. It was like her hands were meant to play a piano because when she did, her fingers practically glided over the keys. The intro for this particularly longer, before she began to sing along softly to the music.

“ _Yes I made the choice_ ,” she began. “ _For Papa I will stay, but I don’t deserve to lose my freedom in this way, you monster._ ”

She continued to sing along with the music; her voice swelling along where the parts of the music called for. There was so much passion in the way that she sang. She’d loved to sing ever sing she was little; loving the way she could tell a story through music. In the time from when she was little, and then the time she started boarding school at Amun, she was able to train herself in piano and music. It went along with her passion for theatre. In the middle of her seventh grade year, her mother had shipped her a wooden keyboard. She used it every day since.

“ _Home and free,._ ” as she played the final chord, she nearly jumped at the clapping sound that came from her door. Turning around, she caught Jerome leaning against her door frame while clapping slowly; a smirk found on his face.

“How long have you been standing there?” she asked with a small frown on her face.

“Long enough to hear you finish your little solo.” he stated before walking in and picking up with music book. “Frankly, I thought you were flat in some spots-”

“Oh and what would _you_ know about music, Jerome?” she narrowed her eyes at the boy who threw her music book across the room and on to the floor. She was practically fuming as he went to leave.

“Trudy sent me to call you for supper. It’ll be done in about twenty minutes.” and with that, he was gone. Mily went over and picked up the music book and placed it in it’s been with the others. Sometimes, she couldn’t stand Jerome Clarke. It was like he just found more ways to cause her grief every day.

Mily made her way downstairs and into the living room where everyone else was sitting; listening to something Patricia was saying.

“-how can she have just gone like that?”

“Who’s gone?” Mily walked into the room and stood near Patricia.

“It’s Joy. She’s gone.” Patricia explained; causing Mily’s eyebrows to furrow.

“Gone? Like, how do you mean?”

“She’s gone and they’ve replaced her with an _American_ ,” she crossed her arms. Mily was at a loss for words. How could she just be gone? They’d only not seen her that morning.

“Maybe Joy’s been abducted by Aliens and the new girls one of them-” Alfie wiggled his fingers in play while making his voice all alien like. The group continued to discuss the hereabouts of Joy until a girl entered the room. She was blonde and thin, with a welcoming smile on her face.

“Hi! I’m Nina, from America.” she looked around at the group in the hopes of a better greeting than the one Patricia had given her earlier. The room was awkwardly quiet; no one knowing what to really say to the girl until Fabian spoke up. “Hey.”

“Welcome, space-girl!” Alfie spoke to the girl in an “alien” language. “Or, ‘Blurp, bleep blop!’ as they say in your language.”

Before anyone else could say anything, Trudy called everyone in for dinner. The tensions in the room were thick and rising; Patricia continued to berate the girl in every way she could and accuse her of being behind Joy’s disappearance. The more she did it, the more annoyed and over it Mily continued to grow. Things went along like this for some time, until Alfie began to shovel his food into his mouth.

“Alfie, you’re going to choke.” Mily chuckled while twirling her own spaghetti with a fork. He tried to say something with his mouthful, but it only came out in mumbles and flying noodles which prompted the collective groans from everyone else.

“Alfie, don’t play with your food.” Jerome spoke before flinging some of his own spaghetti towards Alfie. Despite knowing exactly what as coming, Mily didn’t expect to get hit in the face with noodles as an all out food war broke out between the group. She couldn’t help but laugh as the table erupted in chaos.

That was, until Patricia poured the pitcher into Nina’s lap.

Mily, who had been sitting on Nina’s left had gasped as some of the water had splashed on to her legs, although not nearly enough as had landed on Nina. The girl stood up and tried to shake the cold from the water.

“Real classy, Patricia-”

“What? It was an accident?” she her best not to laugh; allowing everyone in the room to know that it purely wasn’t.

“Are you okay?” Fabian asked Nina; who looked as though she were trying her best not to freak out.

“Yeah,” she spoke. “Except my sweater is shrinking to my body as we speak.”

“So Nina,” Patricia began to poke around at her salad as if she hadn’t just poured water on to the girl. “When are you going to tell us what you know about Joy’s disappearance?”

“I guess when I actually know something.” Nina she answered stiffly. Patricia continued to accuse the girl until Victor came into the dining room.

“Ms. Martin, there is a phone call for you.” he got a good look around the room. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing, just Nina spilled water everywhere.” and with that Nina and Victor existed the room. Mily threw a roll at Patricia.

“Hey! What was-”

“You don’t have to be so mean to her you know.” she said while trying to pick up bits and pieces of spaghetti and place them on the empty plate. “She might not have come here expecting everyone to buddy up to her immediately, but she also probably didn’t expect to have water poured on her along with multiple interrogations. I’m going upstairs to finish my homework. Have a nice rest of your dinner.”

Mily cleaned up the rest of her space before going over to the sink, depositing her dirty dish, and going to head back up to her room. She couldn’t help but notice Nina on the phone in the hallway but decided that it really wasn’t her place to listen in on the girls conversation. Instead, she opted to go upstairs and get changed into her pajamas early and showering off the spaghetti sauce and noodles that had currently made a home in her hair.

Mily was just exiting the bathroom, having showered and changed, when Nina came back upstairs; her eyes red and cheeks flushed. She stopped in her tracks upon seeing the girl; probably expecting the same mean tone she’d been meeting with everyone all night.

“Hi, Nina.” Mily smiled softly at the girl while folding the towel in her arms.

“Hello,” Nina said; her lips pressed into a tight line.

“Don’t pay attention to Patricia.” she lamented. “She’s just mad she has no one to practice her voodoo with anymore.” At this, Nina let out a chuckle before wiping her eyes.

“Are you okay?” She asked the American.

“I will be.” she nodded. “I just have to get used to this place. It’s different from back home.”

“What’s your home like?” she asked.

“It’s not as dramatic I’ll tell you.” she said, leaning against the wall. “I went to a public school. The same one for as long as I know. It was pretty boring actually. That’s why I am so excited to come here. But now-”

“You’re going to be _just_ as excited.” Mily finished. “Because this school really is amazing, has amazing education programs, and really nice, fun people once you get to know em’.”

“Thanks. You’re one of the few people here who hasn’t accused me of kidnapping.”

“Hopefully one of more.” Mily stated. “I have to get going; gotta finish some chem homework. But my room is down to the left end of the hallway if you need anything.”

“Thanks…”

“My names Mily. Mily Bellefleur.”

“Thanks Mily. You’re a lifesaver.” Nina grinned before going in to her room to probably change and finish unpacking. Mily wandered into her own room; all the while wondering how such a quiet morning had turned out the way that it had.

She had no idea what was in store for here.

 


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!! Here's another chapter!! Just a quick note, there are parts where Mily talks to her mother in french. Those parts are italicized to indicate that it's in french. But that's all!! Hope you enjoy the chapter!!

The night time came and just like every morning, Mily was up at the crack of dawn. It was already much colder than the previous day as far as she could tell; the room was practically freezing. Mily got out of bed, pulling back her flowered bed sheets, and pulled the hair out of her face. Just remembering the ordeal of last night's dinner made her grimace. She knew Patricia well enough to know that she wasn’t going to give up on her little tyranny. At least not for a while.

After getting changed and collecting her stuff, she made her way downstairs and into the kitchen. No one was up as per usual, so Mily fixed herself a cup of coffee in a to go cup and sat down in one of the chairs. She figured she’d drink some of it and then head off to school. The school wasn’t a terrible place in the morning. When there was barely anyone there, she actually found it to be quite relaxing.

The sound of shuffling feet caught her attention, and she turned around to see Nina entering the kitchen. Her eyes shifted around the room; probably in the hopes of seeing no one from last night's dinner. She caught sight of Mily, who waved over to her.

“Good morning.” she said, taking a sip of her coffee.

“Morning.” she yawned.

“Sleep well?” Mily asked. She got up and went back into the kitchen; pouring herself more coffee into the travel mug.

“Barely.” Mily frowned softly; getting a good look as to how tired the girl was. She got out another mug, and poured the girl some coffee.

“Here, have some coffee.” she handed the mug to the girl, who in turn smiled and took it into her hands. “There’s milk in the fridge of sugar over there on the counter.”

“Thank god you have coffee.” Nina grinned taking some of the sugar from the sugar bowl.

“Why wouldn’t we have coffee?” Mily asked with a chuckle.

“I dunno, I just figured that in England you only really drank tea.”

“Stereotype much?” she chuckled before taking out the milk and handing it to Nina. “No, we do drink coffee. Most people just prefer tea. Personally, I think that tea is flavorless and much prefer black coffee.”

Nina nodded before sitting at the table across from Mily and drinking more of the coffee. She could see the girl was beginning to wake up more, but not nearly enough. MIly herself knew just how much energy she needed for the day and for the most part was not able to function unless she’d had her daily cup of coffee.

“You know, if you’re really that tired you could have slept in more.” she stated.

“Yeah, I know. I just kinda want to get out as fast as I could.” she explained. “After last night.”

“Well, who could blame you?” Mily closed the lid on her cup of coffee. “Patricia was nothing but horrid to you. It’s a shame you got landed with being her roomate.”

“Yeah well, I’m hoping she eventually drops the whole thing. I don’t know why she thinks that _I’m_ responsible for Joy’s disappearance.”

“Well, I know Patricia and like I said before, she’s not going to drop this for a while.” Mily explained. “But everyone else will warm up to you. I promise.”

Nina smiled at her before finishing her coffee and grabbing an apple for the road. Mily really did feel bad for the girl. She knew more than well just how cruel Patricia could be when she wanted to, and she hated that Nina was going to have to deal with the endless torture. She just hoped that everything would work itself out in the end.

As the morning went on, more people filled in as usual. Mily’s plan had originally been to head in early, but she’d been stopped by Mara to get help on some French conjugations. Some were bustling around trying to pack their lunches, while others were sitting at the table eating breakfast.

“Joy definitely would have called me by now!” Patricia said with a huff as she pushed her oatmeal around with her spoon. “Something has happened to her-”

“Patricia, give it a break. You’re driving me crazy.” Jerome threw a grape over at Patricia, which only earned him a glare in return.

“Jerome!” Mara reclaimed.

“Some of us are worried about Joy, even if you’re not.” Patricia crossed her arms.

“Did you get any response to the email you sent her last night?” Mily asked.

“No.”

“It’s difficult to figure out what else we can do.”  she shrugged.

“Question the newbie,” Patricia answered. “That’s what.”

“She has nothing to do with this, Patricia.” Fabian shot her a look.

“Yeah, her timing is just bad.” Mara agreed with him.

“What about last night? The business with the mirror?” Everyone turned their eyes away from Patricia; not wanting to just blurt out their thoughts about the message on the mirror. “You don’t believe I saw anything, do you?”

“Yes we do!” Mara exclaimed. “It’s just… Mick saw Alfie hanging out in our corridor last night.”

“Not even Alfie would have the nerve to sneak into the bathroom and do something like that!”

“Are we talking about the same Alfie?” Mily piped in. “Because if I recall, Alfie had no problem dumping a bucket of baked beans on me right after I found out my great Aunt died.”

“Ha! I remember that!” Jerome cackled. Mily rolled her eyes before balling up her napkin and throwing it at the boy.

“So who do you think wrote it then, Joy?” Mily asked.

“I dunno.” Patricia looked at her oatmeal. “Maybe Nina wrote it to drive me crazy.”

“Where is she anyway?” Fabian asked.

“She went to school early, this morning.” Mily said, sipping her coffee.

“Oh, so she’s a geek as well as everything else is she?”

“I think it’s probably more about getting away from us.” Fabian spoke up. “I mean we’ve hardly been very welcoming.”

“I was thinking that, too.” Mara said with a frown.

“Well of course she thinks we’re mean.” Mily said. “We’ve only accused her of kidnapping and spilling water on her lap.”

Patricia rolled her eyes and got up to put her bowl in the sink. Mily couldn't help but glare at her.

“All I’m saying,” Mily picked up her bag and travel mug and stood up. “Is that if _I_ were Nina, I’d be avoiding everyone at the table right now.”

And with that, Mily made her way out of the house. She sipped bits of coffee as she trotted down the steps and along with pathway to school.

“Mily! Wait!”

Mily turned around to see Fabian rushing toward her. She stopped in order to let him catch up, before continuing walking at a slower pace to allow him to catch his breath.

“Do you think that’s what it was? That she wanted to get away from us?”

“I know so.” she pointed out. “I spoke with Nina this morning.”

“Yeah? How upset is she?”

“She doesn’t seem like she’s sleeping.” Mily explained. “She was up almost as early as I was this morning. Probably in the hopes of getting out without running into anyone.”

“It’s that bad?” Fabian’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Well, you gotta think about this in her point of view.” Mily kicked a rock on the path. “She’s not only in a new school, but also in country she isn’t familiar with. It’s a whole new culture she has to get used to. It’s not as easy as you think.”

“I’ve never thought about it like that.” The two were silent for a moment as they continued to walk to school. Mily continued to think about how hard this must be for Nina. She knew all too well how it felt to be thrown into a new culture. For most of her life, it was just bouncing from culture to culture. It wasn’t until after being in Liverpool for three years that she finally got used to her everyday life.

They duo went into school only to be pushed aside by Patricia, who was practically sprinting to get passed them.

“Patricia, what’s the rush?” Mily asked before waving to Fabian and following the red head.

“I have questions that deserve answers.” she said before barging into Sweet’s office.

“Oh no.” Mily groaned before following the girl. Mr. Sweet was just sitting at his desk finishing up paperwork before the students had arrived in the office.

“Yes Patricia, Mily?” he answered; not looking up from his paperwork.

“I need to know what’s happened to Joy.” Patricia stated firmly.

“Nothing has happened to Joy.” he said calmly. “Her parents decided to remove her from school. That’s all.”

“When you came into class yesterday, you said, ‘someone is here to see you’.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Why didn’t you say, ‘your parents are here to see you’. Unless it wasn’t parents-”

“Now you’re just being silly.” Mr. Sweet let out an exasperated sigh.

“And why did she leave her phone behind? And why hasn't she called me? And why wouldn't her parents tell Joy they-”

“Patricia!” Mily interrupted her; placing a hand on the hysteric girls shoulder. “Look, Mr. Sweet, we were all very close with Joy and we just want to make sure she’s okay. It’s a bit weird that she hasn’t said anything to any of us yet it all.”

“But-” Mily turned to Patricia again; silencing her with a look.

“We just want to know she’s okay.”

“I can assure you everything is fine, and I’m sure Joy will be in touch in her own time.”

“Is there a phone number or-”

“And,” Mr. Sweet cut her off. “If she doesn’t, perhaps that means she doesn't _want_ to.”

“That’s not possible-”

“Tempus fugit, Patricia.” Mr. Sweet stood up and collected his papers. “Time marches on, and I have a staff meeting to prepare for.”

Mr. Sweet began to shoo them out of the room. “Excuse me, Patricia, Mily, and goodbye.”

The two stood back in the hallway as Mr. Sweet shut the door on them.

“Well, at least we know how-”

“Why didn’t you stick up for me back there?” Patricia scolded her friend. “You know as well as I that this is all fishy and you just shut me down!”

“Patricia, you won’t be getting any answers if you go about everything like a bull.” she snorted.

“You made me look like a fool in there! So much for helping me.” Patricia began to march off into the direction of the common room. Mily groaned before following the girl in haste.

“Patricia!” she shouted; catching the girls attention. “Look, I get that you’re upset. You were the closest to her and you have the right. But yelling about it and accusing people things they didn’t do isn’t going to solve anything-”

“If you’re going on about Nina-”

“AND,” she cut her off. “Biting off the teachers heads won’t solve it either. Look, if this means so much to you, I’ll help you look into things. But you have to calm down. Okay?”

“Yeah, yeah…” Patricia nodded before crossing her arms and looking at the picture above them/. “Hey, look at this.”

The girls turned to the picture above them. It was a class picture from the beginning of last year.

“It’s not like I begged to tutor him-”

“Amber, Mara,” she called the two girls over who just entered the hallway. “Look at the picture.”

“I know! Don’t rub it in!” Amber gasped. “Bad hair day-”

“Forget your hair, AMber.” Patricia swatted at the girls arm. “Where’s Joy?”

“Didn’t she go home with her parents yesterday?” the blonde responded, causing the other girls to groan.

“Here! On this photo?”

“She’s not there.” Amber responded before turning and walking away. Mily’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Wasn’t she away that day? With tonsillitis or something?” Mara asked.

“No, she was there.” Mily responded; placing a hand on the spot in the photo where Joy had been. “I remember she leant me a hair tie right before the photo was taken.”

“Yeah she was standing right next to me.”

“How can you both be so sure?” Mara asked. “That photo was taken over eighteen months ago.”

As Mara walked away, the two girls stood in front of the photo; both with puzzled looks upon their faces.

“I know she was.” Patricia’s voice wavered. Mily place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“I know.” Mily rubbed her shoulder in comfort. “We’ll figure this out. I promise.”

The rest of the school day went by without any commotion. That was until lunch time came around. Mily would usually take herself out to the courtyard and find a spot under this particular weeping willow. It was private there and she was always able to get her work done during her lunch period.

That particular day, she’d seated herself under the tree as normal before taking out her pasta salad she’d made herself. It happened to be one of her favorites. Mily got her travel mug, and her laptop in order to work more on her homework. She’d just gotten into editing the typo’s on her english essay when out of the blue, a large snake fell from the tree and into her lap.

“JESUS!” Mily screamed before accidentally dropping her coffee; allowing it to spill over all of her things. Meanwhile, laughter could be heard coming from the tree above. She looked up to see Jerome and Alfie both doubled over and laughing.

“Jerome! Alfie!” she screamed at them before throwing the fake snake up at them. Turning around she caught a glimpse of her computer; which seemed to be short circuiting due to the large amount of hot coffee that was spilled onto the keyboard.  

“No no no no no no no-” she tried her best to shake the coffee off and wipe up the spill. “Dammit! You guys ruined my laptop!”

“Whoops!” Alfie exclaimed; hopping out of the tree. “Just send for mummy dearest to get you a new one.”

“If only it were that easy.” she huffed; her eyes sending daggers at the two.

“This is _your fault_.” she poked Jerome in the chest.

“Hey, you were the one holding the coffee, not us-”

“Uh uh,” she stopped him from speaking. “You’re not going to get away with this. I don’t have a way of doing my school work, now!”

“Ooh, so Mildew won’t have straight A’s anymore?” Jerome stated. “Does this mean I know have a chance at being top of the class in English?”

“You’re not even close without me being there, Jerome.” Mily stated, before an idea blinked into her head. “You know what, I’m willing to let all of this slide.”

“Oh really?  
“Yep. On one condition.”

“Which is…?”

“You leave Patricia alone about the Joy stuff.”

“And what makes you think that _we_ were the ones who did that?” Alfie piped in.

“Because I’m not an idiot.” she countered back. “Look, we all know it isn’t funny. Patricia lost her best friend and you two both know that had it been one of you, the other would be going crazy right now.”

“Actually-”

“Look, if you leave her alone I’ll drop all of this and I _won’t_ go to Sweet about you breaking my laptop.” The two didn’t seem very convinced. “ _And_ I’ll help you with your tutoring service…”

“Really?” Jerome’s eyes widened. “Done.”

“We’re gonna be rich mate!” Alfie jumped up and down, causing Millie to roll her eyes.

“As long as you leave her alone.”

“Fantastic!” Jerome slung an arm around Mily’s shoulders. “Mildew, you don’t know how lucky you are to be a part of this. We’re going to make tons!”

“And how much are you charging?”

“Just a small price of fifteen an hour-”

“Fifteen an hour?!” Mily exclaimed. “Jerome, that’s highway robbery!”

“Not entirely.”

“Lower it to seven and we’ve got a deal.”

“Fourteen.”

“Eight.”

“Twelve.”

“Ten, or you can find yourself another girl who’s fluent in French _and_ willing to put up with you bozos.” Jerome quirked an eye at the girl, who did it right back in return.

“You’ve got yourself a deal.” Jerome shook the girls hand. “And I hope you expect none of the profit.”

“Wouldn't dream of it.” Mily answered before getting herself out from under the boy's arm and back to her lunch. She only had a few more minutes to eat before she had to pack up the rest of her coffee stained laptop and stuff, before heading back to class. The rest of the day was average, nothing weird happening. After the day and half of only strangeness, it was a nice break. Mily got home as quick as she could, and went to use the phone to call her mother.

The line rang a few times, before there was finally an answer.

“Hello, Evelyn Bellefleur speaking.” came a voice from the other end of the phone.

“ _Maman!_ ” Mily grinned at the sound of her mother’s voice. “ _It’s Mily._ ”

“ _Oh, Mily darling! It’s so good to hear from you!_ ”

It had always been accustomed for them to speak in French. It was how she would speak to her mother when she was little, so it always comforting to hear the french

“ _You too, Maman. How are the Swiss Alps?_ ” she asked her mother.

“ _Oh! They were wonderful! But I left the alps about a month ago._ ” Mily frowned.

“ _Well, where are you now?_ ” she asked.

“ _Right now, I’m in Prague! It really is beautiful out here._ ”

“ _That’s great! But Maman, I had a question for you._ ”

“ _What is it?_ ”

“ _Well, you see my laptop got ruined. One of the boys spilled coffee on it._ ”

“ _I see._ ”

“ _And I was wondering if maybe, you’d be able to buy me a new one?_ ”

“ _Honey, you know that when I’m between books, I don’t have much to work with._ ” Mily frowned at this before sitting down in one of the chairs. She saw Nina come out into the hall and waved to her.

“ _But I’ll tell you what. As soon as I have enough money to work around with, I’ll put some funds into your bank account and you can buy a laptop. Does that work?_ ”

“ _Yes! Yes, Maman, thank you! I promise I’ll take good care of it._ ”

“ _Yes, well I trust you. I’m going to have to get going as I’m touring through a town today. I love you, Mily!_ ”

“ _Love you too, bye._ ” with that she hung up the phone and turned to Nina; who was currently looking at her like she had five heads.

“Is there something on my face?”

“No, I just didn’t know you spoke fluent french.” Nina exclaimed.

“Yeah, I grew up in France. When I was younger.” she explained to her.

“So you’re just fluent in French then? Was it your first language?”

“In a way, yes.” she answered. “My mother was in France when she gave birth to me, and we stayed there for a while why I was younger. So even though my mum spoke english to me, I managed to pick up french from living in Paris til I was five.”

“Where did you go after?”

“Well, my mum’s a journalist. She travels to globe and writes books about different places that she’s gone. Once I was old enough, she began to take me with her. We went to so many beautiful places.”

“Really? That’s so cool.” Nina grinned.

“Would you like to see some pictures?” Mily asked. “I’ve got a book upstairs in my dorm.”

“Cool!” Nina and Mily made their way upstairs; passing Mara and Amber.

“Woah, what’s the rush?” Mara asked.

“Nina wants to see some of the pictures from when I traveled with my mum.”

“Ooh! Can we see, too?!” Amber asked with a grin, before Mily nodded. The group followed her into her dorm room, where she took out a photo album from under her bed. They all sat around Mily; Nina and Amber to her right, and Mara to her left.

“Okay, so this first page is one of the first places we went together. There was this adorable little town on the coast of Italy.” In the photos, there were pictures of colorful houses and cobblestone streets. The sun was out in almost every picture and it looked like a paradise.

“Is this you and your mum?” Mara pointed to a picture on the bottom right hand corner of the page.

“Yeah, that’s us. I was just turning six then I think.”

The picture itself was of the two of them; Mily hoisted on her mum’s shoulders. She looked almost exactly like she did now. The only difference was that her skin was a little darker; probably from all the sun. Her mother had long, dark brown hair and similar facial features to her own.

“You honestly look a lot like her.” Nina observed.

“Yeah, the only difference is that your eyes are blue, whilst hers are brown.

“Mamon alway said that I had my dads eyes.” Mily explained. “She told me they were as crystal blue as the Pacific ocean.”

“Is your dad in any of these pictures?” Amber flipped through the pages of the book.

“Nah, he left before I was born. It’s just been me and my mum.”

“Why haven’t you shown us these pictures before?” Amber got up; still holding the photo album in her hands. “There’s so many in here and they're so cool.”

“You’ve never asked.” Mily chuckled before taking the photo album from her hands. Amber and Mara left soon after, but Nina stuck around in her room.

“Sorry about your dad.” Nina crossed her legs on Mily’s bed while the other girl went over to her desk.

“It’s not your fault, you don’t have to apologize.” she chuckled.

“Well, if it’s any consolation, I grew up without a dad too.” Mily looked over to the girl, who seemed to be staring off into space.

“Oh no, what happened?” Mily inquired. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“They died in a car accident when I was younger.”

“They?”

“Both my parents.”

“Oh Nina, I’m so sorry.” Mily came over and sat on the bed next to her. “That’s just awful.”

“It’s really okay. Instead I grew up with my gran. Now she’s a real fire cracker.” both of the girls chuckled before they heard Alfie screaming for everyone to come to dinner.

“We should head down before there’s no more dinner left.”

The two headed down to eat dinner with the rest of them. Mily was secretly praying there wouldn’t be anymore interrogations from Patricia for this meal. They were having pasta salad, which made Mily all but jump for joy. She scooped a heaping ton of the stuff onto her plate.

“How can you eat so much of that stuff?” Jerome grimaced at the amount on her plate.

“Because it’s fantastic.” Mily retaliated.

“Uh uh, that stuff is nasty.”

“Well, no one is making you eat it and I’ll be happy to eat your portion.” She grinned at Jerome.

“Oh, and uh, by the way, tomorrow at lunch meet Alfie and I at your tree to discuss business plans.” he took a bite out of the chicken sandwich on his plate.

“Business plans? You mean scamming eighth graders?”

“Call it what you want, but I’m going to be making good business.” Mily rolled her eyes before finishing her dinner and heading up to bed.

The next morning came all too soon; leaving Mily exhausted and longing to not have school that morning. The night before she’d been doomed to finishing up her school work without a laptop, which made it take her longer than usual. She’d been up til two in the morning copying notes from Fabian’s computer after asking to borrow it. She knew she wasn’t going to have a computer for a long time, so she found it best to copy down all of the notes she’d be needing at least for a month. Normally, she would have been fine staying up that late by having a cup of two of coffee, but they were apparently out. Trudy said she would go and get some in the morning.

Mily made her way downstairs to where most people were already sitting. She could already feel a headache coming on do to her caffeine withdrawal. After grabbing herself some cereal, she sat herself down in one of the seats.

“Well don’t you look like sun and rainbows.” she heard Jerome snicker next to her.

“I have nothing against punching you.”

“Oh, did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?” he asked.

“We’re out of coffee.” she groaned before eating some of the cereal in front her.

“Well, I’ll tell you who woke up on the wrong side of the bed.” Patricia grinned at the three in front of her. “Nina woke me up last night. She kept whispering, ‘beware the black bird!’ in her sleep!”

“What is that, some sort of riddle?” Alfie laughed.

“So I took an old feather boa and made the feathers fall into her face while she slept.” the three of them laughed while Mily only frowned.

“I wish I could have seen her face when she woke up just _covered_ in feathers.” Jerome cackled.

“Was it like this?” Patricia and Jerome laughed while Alfie made funny faces at them.

“Oh, cut it out, guys. You’re all being awful.” Mily rolled her eyes before bringing her bowl into the kitchen to put in the sink. She made herself a cup of hot chocolate in the hopes that it would help her wake up just a tiny bit. By the time she’d fixed herself a cup, Nina had found her way downstairs.

“I see you haven’t sneaked out at the crack of dawn, today.” Amber pointed out.

“Wow, everyone really does keep tabs on everyone else here, don’t they?” Nina mumbled to Fabian.

“Fabian said you went into school early. But then you didn’t show up in first class?”

“Nina was helping an old lady across the road. Literally.” Trudy grinned while placing a bowl of cereal in front of Nina. “We had a surprise visitor from the old people's home.”

“I’m not very good with old people.” Amber stated as a matter of fact. “They’re just so, _old_ aren’t they?”

Fabian nearly choked on his drink, while Alfie and Jerome burst out laughing. Mily couldn’t help the snicker that came out of her mouth as the blonde girl spoke.

“Really?” Jerome commented, faking interest.

“Still, you must be used to it. Trudy said your Gran brought you up.”

“She did, yeah.” Nina answered. Mily was more awake suddenly.

“What happened to your mum and dad?”

“Amber, the queen of tact.” Jerome commented. Mily kept her head down; suddenly feeling embarrassed by how up front the girl was being with Nina.

“They died in a car accident.” Nina mumbled.

“Oh.” Amber blushed in embarrassment. “That’s awful.”

Mily shot Nina a sympathetic look as the rest of the table suddenly felt awkward by the conversation.

“It was a long time ago.” Nina smiled at Amber. “My gran and I are really close.”

“So how come she’s packed you off to a big bad boarding school?” Mily gawked at Patricia; not believing the words she was hearing come out of the girls mouth. “Miles away from home then? Sounds to me like she wanted to get rid.”

“PATRICIA!” Everyone fell silent as they looked over at Mily; who seemed furious.

“How can you be so cruel? We get that you’re upset about Joy, but there’s no need to say such horrible things to Nina about it. So stop acting like such a bitch.”

Patricia went silent and grumpily crossed her arms and sneered at Mily. Jerome and Alfie had a hard time not cracking up at her calling Patricia a bitch.

“And you two have been no help either.” They went silent. “You’ve been just as bad. No one here has been very welcoming at all. How would any of you feel if you’d been dropped into a country you don’t know and expected to assimilate so quickly? To be tore away from your family?”

Everyone at the table had gone silent at Mily’s outburst. Mily had never been quite loud like this. She was a very kind person who always brought a sort of calmness to the room. They’d never seen her so angry before. It was unsettling.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me I have to get to school. See you around.” she quickly picked up her stuff and headed out the front door. As soon as she was out of the others prying eyes, she slumped against one of the outside walls of the house. She never meant to yell like that. It was just frustrating of how hard a time they were giving Nina. Everyone in the house was all from England so coming to the school wasn’t anything new. It was so hard for Mily to finally get the gist of it and fit in that the whole ordeal struck a chord with her.

Mily heard someone exiting the front door and quickly dashed around the side of the house; seemingly making her way to school. She heard the footsteps grow closer and tried to quicken her pace.

“Hey Mildew! Wait up!” Jerome was jogging to catch up with her. Mily crossed her arms and kept walking; not wanting to deal with whatever crap he was going to say.

“What was that in there?” He asked catching up to her.

“I told you, I didn’t have my morning coffee.” she mumbled.

“That seemed to be a lot more than coffee.” he put his hands in his pockets.

“Well then, get on with it.”

“Get on with what?” Jerome asked.

“You know what,” Mily drawled. “The jokes, the one liners; make fun of me for sticking up for the new girl and just get on with it. I’m not in the mood to deal with this today.”

Jerome frowned slightly. “And who said I was going to make fun of you?”

“Oh, yes the prank _king_ isn’t going to make fun of good old Mildew. Yeah right.”

They managed to make their way to the school and up to the front door.

“So, what was that outburst in there?” he asked while sitting along the wall. Mily put her face in her hands and groaned.

“I dunno, I just…” she sighed. “I get where she’s coming from. This is all so new to her and everyone’s been so mean to her. I just got frustrated at it. Especially when Patricia said her gran wanted to get rid. Patricia can be so mean…”

Mily looked over at Jerome; who seemed to be listening intently with a smirk on his face.

“And I’m telling this to all of you why?”

“I dunno, some people find me irresistibly charming and easy to talk to.” Mily all but rolled her eyes before making her way into the school building. If she wanted to be able to deal with Jerome Clarke, she’d need coffee first. It didn’t quite explain why she’d just opened up to him like that. It was like she lost her filter. She wasn’t sure if she liked just how easy it was.

Either way, Mily made her way to first class fully expecting her day to be rotten due to the lack of caffeine.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that I always love to hear constructive criticism and comments from readers! It gets me motivated to write more and get chapters out to you as fast as I can. So leave a comment below!!


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long with this chapter, but I wanted to make sure all of the plot stuff worked out before I posted it. Enjoy!

“Your biology assignments, please.” Mr. Sweet began to collect assignments from the students as they got their stuff to leave the classroom. “And no excuses this time.”

Mily couldn’t tell you how she had ended up sitting at a table, squished between Jerome and Alfie, but she wished she could repick her seat everyday. The three were whispering with each other which led Mily to believe they were up to no good as usual. Rolling her eyes, she grabbed her stuff and made her way over to the front of the classroom.

“Um, Mr. Sweet,” she got Mr. Sweet’s attention. “I know you said no excuses, but my computer short circuited. I lost most of the project that we had to complete.”

Mr. Sweet sighed in agitation. Mily really did feel bad about not having the project. She always had her work done on time, and worked hard in the class. Mily gave Mr. Sweet a pleading look, causing him to sigh and take off his glasses.

“Alright, alright. I’ll let it slide this _once_ and it is _only_ because you’re one of my best students and have barely missed any assignments.” Mily grinned at the teacher.

“I promise I’ll try and finish it by hand and get it to you as soon as I can.”

“Right, well I look forward to it.” Mily packed up the rest of her stuff and made her way over to where Nina and Patricia were talking.

“-the traditional way.”

“The traditional way of what?” Mily asked, moving to stand next to Nina and Fabian.

“The traditional way of welcoming new students.” Patricia answered.

“What are you going on about?” Fabian inquired; him and Mily looking just as confused as Nina was.

“Alfie, why don’t you tell Nina about the initiation ceremony.” Patricia gestured to him.

“The what?” Patricia elbowed him in the side. “Oh! Yeah, every new person who comes to this school has to undergo a sort of… initiation ceremony.”

Mily narrowed her eyes; seeing the playful glint in the three of them.

“I’m sorry, but there’s never been a-”

“Oh, you’re just forgetting about it.” Patricia cut Mily off. “The point is there’s always been an initiation everyone has to go through.”

“What are you-”

“It’s okay.” Nina glanced over at her two friends before turning back to the three. “Sounds like fun. What do I have to do?”

Mily rolled her eyes and made her way out of the group; not wanting any part in whatever scheme they were going to pull on Nina. She was more focused on how she was going to be able to finish all of her other work without her computer. All of her notes were typed on it, along with all the links to websites she used. So far, she only had the notes Fabian let her copy down which was only half of the unit.

Frustrated, she made her way to her next class; not bothering to think of the situation again until right before lunch time. She went outside and underneath the tree where she was supposed to be meeting up with Alfie and Jerome to talk about their “business plan”. It seemed she was never going to be done with their scheming. Not for a while anyway.

The two came bustling out from the school; both spotting the girl immediately and plopping themselves down in front of her.

“Hello there, business partner.” Alfie greeted her with a smile.

“Hello Alfie, Jerome.” Mily opened up a container of leftover macaroni salad from the previous night. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Aw, you mean you don’t enjoy our company?” Jerome mocked her.

“Not when it involves scamming twelve year olds, no.” Mily mocked him right back. “But it seems I have no choice in the matter, now does it?”

“Now you’re starting to understand.” Jerome pat her on the back before taking out his own lunch; a peanut butter and fluff sandwich balled up in tinfoil. Alfie seemed to have to same thing.

“So, first things first, we’ve already made business cards. I took the liberty in doing that myself.”  Jerome pulled a bag of business cards out of his satchel and handed them over to Mily. They were a light blue color with a big, bold black font that said, ‘LEWIS AND CLARK TUTORING SERVICE *for only twelve quid*’.

“Well, they aren’t terrible at least.” Mily handed the card back to him.

“And, I’ve already started to pass these out and there’s a number of seventh graders willing to pay upfront.” Alfie handed Mily a notebook with a long list of names on the page. “You start tomorrow.”

“You can’t possibly expect me to be able to tutor all of these kids within a week.” she exclaimed while looking over the list of names. “There’s no way. It’s too many.”

“Well, if we’d keep the price at fifteen, it would have thinned the heard.”

“Look, I told you I was going to help, but I’m not going to have you working me to the bone. I have other things I need to get done besides helping you fill your pockets.” she smacked Jerome on the shoulder with the notebook.

“Alright, alright!” he held his hands up to stop her from hitting him. “I’ll just tell them they have to talk to you personally. Make your own schedule. But, I want copies of your schedule sent to me daily so that I know how much we’re making. Deal?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Fantastic. Now give me your phone.”

“What for?” Mily frowned at him. Jerome rolled his eyes before taking the phone out of her bag, despite her protests.

“I’m putting my number in here so that you can send me your schedule.” he pressed the buttons on her phone, and in a few short moments, threw the phone back to Mily.

“Are we done here then?” Mily asked. “I’d like to eat my lunch in peace.”

“As if I’d want to sit with you and your smelly macaroni salad, anyway.” Jerome scoffed.

“Hey! Don’t be rude.” Mily kicked his shoe. “Maybe I don’t want to sit around and watch you eat that disgusting sandwich of yours. Marshmallow fluff? Are you five?”   

“Bhere’s ‘othing ‘ong wiff marffmellow.” he said after taking a huge bite out of the sandwich. Mily scrunched up her nose in disgust.

“You’re absolutely disgusting, Jerome Clarke.” Mily said before packing up her things and taking her lunch elsewhere. Jerome only rolled his eyes before lying back on the grass. He couldn’t help but catch a glimpse over at Alfie; who was snickering to himself.

“What’s so funny?” he sat up. Alfie chuckled to himself before stuffing the rest of his marshmallow fluff sandwich in his mouth. Jerome balled up the tinfoil from his sandwich and threw it at Alfie; which he caught and threw it back at him.

The rest of the day carried on after that with Mily fretting over her school work. It was much harder to keep up with the rest of the class when didn’t have her computer. She was so used to typing out all of her notes that doing them by hand was taking much longer than she normally would have. Nonetheless, she got as much done as she could that following afternoon by asking around to borrow other people's notes to copy.

“So Nina’s initiation takes place tomorrow night, okay.” Patricia announced at dinner that night while poking around at the food on her plate. “At midnight.”

“The witching hour!” Alfie grinned maniacally making ghost noises while Jerome joined in laughing.

“Alfie!” Fabian cut in. “Cut it out.”

“Tell me Fabian,” Jerome looked over at him. “Does it get boring always, _always_ being the one who’s like ‘cut it out’ or ‘that’s not right’ or ‘funis bad’?”

“No.” he answered with a straight face.

“At least Fabian has a backbone, Jerome.” Mily piped in. “He sticks up for what he believes in.”

Jerome scoffed at the girl’s comment, but Fabian saw the defeat that flashed in his eyes.

“What does she have to do?” Mara asked.

“Go up to the _spooky_ attack and bring something back to prove it.”

“You’re going up to the attic?” Amber asked while holding the pitcher of orange juice.

“Sure.” Nina said; looking unsure. “I mean, it’s not like it’s-”

“Totally haunted.” Amber nodded before setting down the juice pitcher. Mily watched as Nina’s look of confidence faltered; just for a split second.

“Really?”

“By the ghosts of former students who went up there; never to return!” Mily rolled her eyes at Jerome’s remarks.

“Ha ha ha.” Jerome threw his napkin at the girl.

“Getting cold feet?” Patricia sneered at Nina.

“Not at all.”

“Let’s start tonight.” Nina grinned back at the girl; thoroughly annoying Patricia. “Can’t wait.”

“Oh, we’ve got something else planned for you tonight.”

“Can’t wait to hear this.” Fabian rolled his eyes; as equally annoyed as Mily was.

“The key.”

“The key?” Mily asked. “Patricia, you can’t be serious that’s stealing.”

“She can’t get into the attic without the key.” the redhead responded. “She’ll have to steal it from Victor.”

It took everything in Mily not to bury her head in her hands. She knew that all of this was just to get Nina into trouble and she didn’t like the way Patricia was able to play the new girl like a fiddle. It seemed Nina was just as eager to prove herself as Patricia was to ruin the girl, because no sooner than dinner ended, the five of them were upstairs outside of Victors office.

“I see you’ve decided to join in on the games, Mildew.” Jerome whispered.

“I’m only hear to make sure Nina doesn’t get hurt.” she argued back at him. He snickered before Patricia spoke up.

“See the bunch of keys, on the desk next to Victor?” Nina nodded. “Those are the master keys. He carries them _everywhere_ he goes.”

“So you’ll never get them.” Alfie piped in.

“But there is a key box on the wall just beside him. He keeps a spare set of every single key in there-”

“What _are_ you lot looking at? Hmm?” the group was interrupted by the sound of Victor’s booming voice as he exited the office and made his way over to the five. Mily looked around at the others who all looked gobsmacked and didn’t know exactly what to say.

“Sir, we were just trying to-”

“Admiring your coat.” Mily stuttered; getting the groups attention. “Where’d you get it? It reminds me of something I saw in Italy once-”

There was an awkward pause; whether Victor was deciding if he were to believe them or what kind of punishment to deal out, they didn't know. Before he could saying anything Alfie, who was kneeling on the floor, got the man’s attention.

“Yes, just as I thought.” Alfie chuckled while looking up at Victor. “This floor could use a polish.”

“Hmmm, well in that case, please feel free to polish it, Alfie.”

“No, I-er-”

“Come with me.” Alfie was promptly taken by the arm before Victor led him down the stairs; presumably to get a toothbrush. Mily let out a breath of relief; glad they were able to weasel their way out of that one. However, before she could relax, Nina darted past her and into Victor’s office.

“What’s she doing?!”

“Getting the key.” Mily answered. It was quite impressive to see how fast the girl was working. She fumbled with the master keys; trying to find the right one to open the spare cabinet. It took a few tries before she had the doors open and was taking the attic key out and relocking the door. Mily heard a crash from downstairs and jumped.

“Nina, hurry, Victor!”

Nina quickly set the keys onto the desk before turning and going to make a mad dash out of the office. Before she could however, in her haste her elbow knocked over Corbier; sending the bird flying in the air. Nina quickly caught the bird but not before she herself tripped on the rug and was currently sprawled out on the floor; Corbier being held above her head. In all of the action, Mily hadn’t even noticed Victor moving past the group until he was standing above Nina; a look of anger that the students had never seen before adorning his face.

“Nina Martin, what are you doing?” he spoke; deadly quiet. “This had better be good.”

Mily’s eyes were wide and she held her breath; instinctively grasping on to whoever’s hand was closest to hers. She had no idea how they were getting out of this one.

“What were you doing in here?”

“Um, I was getting… getting a closer look at Corbier?” she sat up and extended out her arms; Victor snatching the bird from her hands. “I’m sort of an amatuer taxedermist-”

“GET OUT!” Nina didn’t need to be told twice; leaping up from the carpet and making her way back to the group. “And don’t let me catch you in here again.”

Victor slammed the door and went back to his desk. Nina turned around to face the group; wide eyed. She glanced over shoulder and then back at the group before revealing the attic key in her hands. Mily let out the breath she’d been holding and grinned at the girl.

“Lucky.” Patricia sneered; unsatisfied with the fact that Nina was not in any real trouble.

“ _Very_ lucky.” Jerome chuckled with a mischievous grin on his face.

“Well we’ll see how lucky she is tomorrow night.” she crossed her arms. “When she goes up into the attic.”

With that, Patricia stormed away; followed by Nina who first cast a smile towards Mily. Mily smiled back at the girl; happy that she didn’t get into any trouble.

“You can let go of my hand now.”

Mily looked over to Jerome; who was standing to her right with his hand still being gripped by hers. She quickly released his hand before her entire face turned as red as a tomato.

“Quite the grip you’ve got there, Mildew.” he chuckled.

“Sorry, I just got nervous and grabbed the closest thing to me…” she mumbled; still blushing profusely. “I really didn’t mean to-”

“I know Mildew.” he grinned at her with a mischievous look on his face. “But, I’m never going to let you live it down.”

With that, Jerome made his way back down the stairs; leaving Mily to go back up to her dorm. She felt so stupid and could _still_ feel how red her face was. His hand just happened to be there and she really hadn’t meant to take it. Mily went into her room and laid back on her bed. The whole incident made her feel stupid. Her last thought was of how tightly she’d gripped his hand right before she fell asleep.

_“Come on, Mil!” a girl screamed at her before running through the woods. The sun was shining down on the area; a cool breeze filling the air. Mily laughed and followed her friend, before turning around to their other friend who was just falling behind._

_“You have to keep up!” she shouted to him. He only laughed before catching up with her. The two of them finally reached the bank of the creek where the blonde girl was standing. She’d already taken her shoes off and was standing with her feet in the water._

_“It’s not very cold today.” the blonde girl smiled. The boy grimaced while looking down at the water._

_“Isn’t it dangerous going in the water?”_

_“Why would it be dangerous?” the blonde girl asked. She turned around and walked over to the two of them._

_“Well, there could be leeches in the water. What if I get one stuck on me?” he shuffled his feet nervously while looking down._

_“It won’t be that bad.” Mily turned to them before taking off her own shoes._

_“You’re just a chicken.” the blonde girl flapped her arms and clucked while a chicken, while the boy laughed at her. “Come on, I promise it’ll be fun! Swimming is just the thing we need to make our day better.”_

_Mily shrugged before wading into the water. The blonde girl followed and soon enough, the boy was in there too. The three of them spent the rest of the day splashing around in the creek and playing tag in the water.  By the time it was about four in the afternoon, the three had grown tired and had found a spot of grass to rest on._

_“It feels so nice,” Mily commented. “The sun feels so warm.”_

_“It usually is.” the blonde girl piped in. “I come out here sometimes and lay in the sun.”_

_“I like when the sun comes in through my bedroom window.” the boy said._

_“Yeah.” There was silence for some time._

_“Mils?”_

_“Yeah?”_

_“Mils.”_

_“Mil’s”_

_Mils._

_MILS._

“Mily, wake up!”

Mily shot up in bed with a gasp only to see Mara standing above her, with a worried look on her face.

“Are you alright?” Mara asked.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Mily looked at her confused.

“School starts in ten.” Mara stated before sitting on her bed. “Everyone’s left already. Trudy said you hadn’t come down and so she sent me to check on you.”

Still groggy, Mily realized the last thing she remembered was falling onto her bed after Nina had stolen the key from Victor’s office. She must have been exhausted because she knew that she needed to finish up on some homework before bed. Groaning, she threw the covers off of herself.

“Christ, I can’t believe I slept in-” Mily scrambled to get up and out of bed; grabbing pieces of her uniform to get changed into.

“Relax. If you hurry up, we’ll be just in time for class.” Mara explained. “There’s a plate of toast on your desk and I’ll wait for you downstairs, yeah?”

Mara left the room and Mily continued to throw her clothes on and somewhat brush her hair. She was never one to sleep in and alway woke up early, so she was very confused on why she was able to sleep through the entire morning. Either way, she was out of her bedroom within five minutes; having grabbed the toast and wrapping it in a napkin. Mara stood by the front door; waiting for Mily to arrive downstairs. Just as Mily made her way out of the hallway, she ran into someone at the top of the stairs. She looked up to see Victor glaring down at her.

“Watch where you’re going, Miss Bellefleur.” he spat her her.

“Um, sorry Victor, I'm just rushing to get to school. It won’t happen again-”

“For your sake, I hope it does not.” Mily got up quickly and made her way downstairs to where Mara was trying to hold in laughter. As soon as the two were out the door, they couldn’t help but collapse into fits of giggles.

“ _For your sake, I hope it does!_ ” Mily gave Mara her best Victor impression, which had them both laughing even harder. The girls made their way into their history classroom and went to take the last two open seats in the room. Unfortunately for Mily, the seat she got landed with happened to be next to Jerome.

“What does that mean?” Patricia groaned; sitting across from Jerome in the seat in front of the two.

“What does what mean?” Mily asked; only catching the tail end of the conversation.  

“It just means that Patricia has gotten on Joy’s nerves, and that she’s gotten fed up with you bombarding her with messages and texts, and she’s changed her phone contract.” Jerome chuckled to himself, before earning a smack from Mily on the arm.

“That’s not funny, Jerome.” Mily scolded him.

“Wake up on the wrong side of the bed, Mildew?” he took out his laptop and placed it on the desk. “Hard to believe when you slept in the whole morning.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me.” she buried her head in her hands. “I _never_ sleep in, I don’t understand why today was any different.”

“You were probably so exhausted after all the hand holding last night.” Mily felt her cheeks go red. Before she was able to respond, a voice cut her off.

“All the world's a stage, and the men and women are merely players” Everyone’ heads turned to see a man standing in the doorway of the classroom. The man looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties; with short brown hair that looked well kept and stubble that seemed to be just growing in. To be completely frank, he only looked a few years older than themselves.

“Hey. My name is Jason Winkler and I’m your new History teacher.” he stated before making his way over to the front desk. “I’ll also be teaching drama.”

Mily perked up at this; seemingly sitting up straighter in her desk. They’d been looking for someone to not only replace their old history teacher, but also for someone to teach drama. Mrs. Andrews had told her about it when she’d helped her grade papers and she couldn’t have been more excited.

“You’re Mr. Flemings replacement?” Amber had asked.

“That’s right.”

“Wow, I am so pleased he had a heart attack.” the whole room erupted with laughter, while Amber realized she had said her comment out loud.

“Sorry, that didn’t come out right.”

Class continued on until the bell rang; filling the hallways with students heading to their next class. Mily got her stuff and made her way out of the classroom with the rest of the group. Before she could get too far, someone tapped her on the shoulder from behind. She turned around to see a younger looking girl; probably only twelve or thirteen and roughly five foot tall. She had pin straight white blonde hair that was done up in a braid and a soft smile on her face.

“Are you Mily?” she asked timidly. Mily offered her a small smile.

“Yep, that’s me.” she answered confused on who the girl was. “Do I know you?”

“No, I was wondering, well-” the girl fumbled for something that was in her pocket before pulling out a small piece of paper and handing it to her. It was one of Jerome’s business cards.

“Oh! You’re looking for a tutor!” Mily exclaimed.

“I’m terrible at French.” the blonde girl grinned; relieved that she found the right person. “I can’t qualify for regionals in football if I don’t pull up my French grade. However, I don’t get my allowance until next week so I can’t pay you just yet.”

“That’s okay.” Mily shrugged. “First ones free.”

“Free?” the girl smiled.

“Um, free?” she heard a voice from behind her and turned to see Jerome making his way over to the two. “Sorry, I couldn’t help but over hear you say the word, _free_. As in not for money, free.”

“Yes, Jerome, free.” she eyed him before turning back to the young girl. “What time would you be available?”

“Maybe today, after school? If that works for you?”

“Of course.” Mily smiled at her before pulling out a piece of paper. “Here just write down your phone number, that way I can contact you if something changes.”

The girl quickly scribbled something on the paper before handing back to Mily with a smile.

“I’ll see you after class in the library…” she looked down at the piece of paper. “Prudence.”

Prudence smiled and waved at her before making her way through the back through the crowd. Mily on the other hand, was stuck dealing with a pissed off Jerome who continued to follow her through the crowd.

“You can’t just go and decide to make tutoring free!” Mily groaned as she put her books into her locker; Jerome standing behind her with a frown on his face.

“Oh, relax. I only made the first one free. She wasn’t going to get her allowance until next week.” Mily turned to Jerome.

“We had a deal, Mildew.”

“And I’m keeping the deal.” Mily snapped back. “Look, you know I don’t agree with what you’re doing but I don’t want you two bothering Patricia any longer. We all know how upset she is, and if the only way is by helping you make a quick buck, than fine.”

With that, Mily turned around and went off to her next class; determined that even though she was helping them, she would be doing it on her own terms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that I always love to hear constructive criticism and comments from readers! It gets me motivated to write more and get chapters out to you as fast as I can. So leave a comment below!!


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait!! Things have been crazy and I've had a million and one things going on but rest assured, here's another chapter four ya'll :)

Mily, with Jerome in tow, walked into the small auditorium of the school for their next class; Drama. She’d been excited about it ever since hearing about the new Drama teacher. Their previous one was, well, we’ll just say a little off her rocker. She was a little bit on the older side and didn’t have it all quite together anymore. Eventually, the school realized they had to get rid of her when the ninety year old woman mistakenly accused some of her students of plotting against her. That had been a rather awkward situation for everyone. 

Mily found a seat on the window sill as Alfie began to run around the room. 

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” he buzzed around; causing the class to erupt in fits of giggles.  

“And, what exactly are you supposed to be, Alfie?” Mr. Winkler observed with a puzzled look on his face. 

“A mosquito in a spin dryer.” Alfie chuckled to himself before being swatted away by Amber. “Isn’t it obvious?” 

Mr. Winkler nodded in his direction, looking puzzled, before stepping in front of the group. 

“Now, onto something a little more serious.” he held up a paperback book. “Shakespeare's  _ Romeo and Juliet. _ ” 

Mily smiled at the name of the title. She happened to love Shakespeare, having read through a number of his plays in her free time before. Personally,  _ A Midsummer Night’s Dream  _ was her favorite, but Romeo and Juliet was a close second. 

“Timeless,  _ tragic. _ ” 

“Tedious.” Jerome rolled his eyes, causing Mily to smack him on the shoulder. 

“Don’t be rude.” 

“A little excited, are we?” Jerome remarked. 

“There’s nothing wrong with enjoying class. Drama is fun if you actually  _ try _ .” 

“Sounds to me like you’re almost as excited as you were holding my hand last night-”

“Will you shut up about that!” Mily interrupted him furiously. “You know that was an accident!” 

“Ms. Bellefleur and Mr. Clarke,” the two turned to see Mr. Winkler and the rest of the class staring at them. “If you two are so keen on talking with each other, I’m sure you won’t mind being partners during activities in class.” 

Mily could feel her cheeks heat up in embarrassment while Jerome looked only smug. With both of them having gone silent, Mr. Winkler attempted to continue on with the class . However, before he could even get a word in, Amber’s voice cut him off. 

“There’s an article in here that says if your boyfriend isn’t paying you enough attention, you have to flirt with someone else to make him jealous.” Amber whispered to Mara. 

“Swap please, Amber.” 

“Do I have to, sir?” Mr. Winkler took the magazine out of her hands and replaced it with a copy of Romeo and Juliet. The rest of the copies began to be passed around the classroom. 

“Now, what we’re going to do is get into partners to reenact a scene. I want you and your partner to look over act two scene two; the scene in the balcony. Now, this is one of the most famous scenes in the show. There is so much passion between the two characters, despite them having just met. So, you’re going to practice the scenes and then, we’re gonna present them to the class. 

“But it’s just going to be the same scene over and over again.” Amber piped in. “How is that educational?” 

“Well, no two people will do the scene the same.” Mr. Winkler explained. “Everyone has the characters are acting and feeling, so it will be good to see the characters from different points of view.”

“Now, you can choose your own partners, but I expect everyone to be working.” Mr. Winkler looked over at the two of them. “Now, let’s get started!” 

Mily grabbed one of the copies before paging through it to find the scene. Jerome waltzed over while paging through the book with a puzzled look on his face.

“How can you actually enjoy this, Mildew?” he read over some of the lines in the book. “It’s all rubbish. You can’t even understand what they’re saying.” 

“Shakespeare is one of the most brilliant playwrights ever, Jerome.” she huffed before landing on the page she was looking for. “You’re just not capable of enjoying things that require more than one brain cell.” 

Mily took Jerome’s book out of his hand, and switched it with hers. 

“Read.” she commanded as she opened to the same page in the second book. 

“Why should I?” he crossed his arms while leaning back against the wall. “Because you said so?” 

“Because we’ll fail if we don’t.” Mily was beginning to get frustrated. “Look, we’re stuck being partners in this class for the rest of the year. We won’t get anywhere bickering back and forth.” 

“You just want to hold my hand again, Mildew-”

“Will you stop about that?” she groaned putting her head in her hands. “I swear on my life that it was an accident. I was just nervous. Victor looked like he was going to  _ murder  _ us.” 

“Oh, relax Mildew.” Jerome chuckled before looking down at the book page. “It’s just playful joking.” 

Mily rolled her eyes before sitting against the window sill and paging through the script. 

“Let’s just practice, yeah? We’ll fail if we don’t and we’re wasting time bickering.” Jerome groaned before opening up the book and reading the first line.

“She speaks.” he said; his voice having no emotion at all. “O, speak again, bright angel, for thou art as glorious to this night, being o'er my head, as is a winged messenger of heaven.” 

“You’re kidding me, right?” Mily glared at him softly. 

“Oh, what is it now Mildew?” 

“You have to have more emotion than  _ THAT _ .” she stood up next to him. 

“Sorry, Mildew. Not everyone is an actress as astute as you.” Mily hit him the shoulder with her book before shaking her head. 

“That’s not the point, if you don’t try we’ll look like idiots.”

“Then why don’t  _ you  _ give it a go?” he crossed his arms before sitting on the windowsill. “If you’re so good at it.” 

“Fine.” Mily held up the book and read the portion for Juliet. “Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father, refuse thy name; or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulot.”

Jerome scoffed at her; causing Mily to scrunch up her face in annoyance. 

“Oh, and you can do better? After what you just did before?” he picked up his own book, and with a smirk, began to read from the lines. 

“Shall I hear more? Or shall I speak at this?” his tone was curious, but joking as he could see he was pushing her buttons. 

“ ' Tis but thy name that is my enemy.” Mily had a punch in her voice. “Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What's Montague? What’s in a name, that which we call a rose? By any other name would smell as sweet. So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd, retain that dear perfection which he owes. Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, and for that name, which is no part of thee, take all myself.” 

“I take thee at thy word. Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized. Henceforth I never will be Romeo.” 

“What man art thou that, thus bescreened in night, So stumblest on my counsel?” Mily looked up at him frustrated. She knew this entire thing was just a joke to him. It didn’t take an idiot to figure out he was just trying to get to her. Unfortunately it seemed to be working. 

“By a name I know not how to tell thee who I am.” Jerome stepped closer. “My name, dear saint, is hateful to  _ myself _ because it is an enemy to thee. Had I it written, I would tear the word.” 

“My ears have yet not drunk a hundred words of thy tongue's uttering, yet I know the sound. Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?” Mily smirked at him while crossing her arms, however something of a smile still on her face. 

The two continued on like this; reciting the lines back and forth to each other. As hard as it was for her to admit, Jerome wasn’t too awful. It was almost, enjoyable in a way; seeing as she’d be partnered with him all year and it wouldn’t hurt to work with someone who could actually act. She was hoping that he wouldn’t give her as much of a hard time in the future; considering they were stuck as partners for the rest of the term. In fact, they were both so focused on the task at hand, they hadn’t noticed that the class had gradually stopped what they were doing to watch them; including Mr. Winkler.

“But to be frank, and give it thee again.” Mily looked up at Jerome; who couldn’t help but smirk down at her in amusement. “And yet I wish but for the thing I have. My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep. The more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.” 

A round of applause sounded from the teacher; causing the smirk to fall off of Jerome’s face. Mily couldn’t help but feel her cheeks go completely red; offering the group a small smile before sitting back down on the windowsill. Jerome leaned against the wall; the smirk having been wiped from his face. 

“Well done, you two.” Mr. Winkler interrupted the rest of the applause. “I can see we’re going to have an interesting year with these two.” 

This got a chuckle out of the class, before Mr. Winkler called up the next pair and began to get on with the presentations. Mily watched as the other groups went, but spaced out after some of the first ones. She couldn’t help but feel out of place suddenly. Drama class was her favorite and now she was doomed to spend the rest of it with Jerome as her acting partner. Granted he wasn’t completely terrible when they presented, but she knew he was always going to be trying to get a rise out of her. It seemed that no matter where, she wasn’t able to shake him from her life. 

Mily’s attention was brought back to the presentations when a sequence of laughter rang throughout the room. Amber and Alfie were currently situated on the stage while barely reading the lines from the book. It took everything in her not to cringe as she watched their poor reenactment of the lovers. 

“Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father, refuse thy name; or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulot.” Amber recited with the cheesiest grin on her face. 

“Shall I hear more? Or shall I speak at this.” the class was eating up Alfie’s dramatic take on the character. 

“Tis but they name that is my enemy.” Amber smiled, before looking out into the audience of her peers. Mily was just able to catch the smallest falter of her smile before the class took an interesting turn. 

“Thou art...truly the yummiest boy I’ve ever seen!” Amber practically squealed as the class completely roared with laughter. Alfie looked vaguely confused while trying to play along. 

“That’s not in the script, Amber.” he whispered to her while still smiling. However, she completely ignored him and instead chose to lean forward and kiss him; causing a chorus of hollers, clapping and gasps to fall over the class. Mily’s eyes widened and she looked over at Jerome. 

“Don’t look at me! I didn’t know about this.” he held his hands up in defense, but couldn’t help smiling. “This is brilliant, well done Alfie!” 

The rest of the day continued on with news about the kiss circulating the school. Mily’s classmates seemed to thrive on any drama that spread around. She didn’t particularly care all that much; knowing it was only going to stir up hurt feelings that she didn’t particularly care for. Either way, she carried out the rest of her day ignoring the gossip. 

By the end of the day, Mily was situated in the library waiting for Prudence to come to the tutoring session. Frankly she was a bit nervous about tutoring. It wasn’t that she didn’t know her french, she did, but she’d never really taught it to anyone. She just hoped she was able to help her understand. 

It wasn’t too long until she spotted Prudence in the front entrance of the library. She quickly waved her over before making room to put her stuff down. The younger girl smiled catching sight of her and made her way over to where Mily was. 

“Hi, Mily!” she set down her things before sitting down. “Or should I say, bonjour?” 

Mily chuckled before opening up her notebook to a blank page and waiting for Prudence to get out her own notes. 

“ _ Comment allez vous? _ ” Mily asked the girl. Prudence took a second, before producing an answer.  

“ _ Je me débrouille bien. Et vous? _ ” 

“ _ Très bon!”  _ Mily was pleased with the skills she was presenting already. “ _ Êtes-vous prêt à commencer à travailler sur votre français? _ ” 

Prudence furrowed her eyebrows before looking down at her notebook and sighing in frustration. 

“You’ve lost me there.” 

“That’s okay.” Mily placed a hand on the table. “You’re doing really well already! Which french class are you in?” 

“French one.” she answered. “I know most seventh graders should be in their second year of french, but I took spanish last year at my old school and they don’t have spanish classes here.” 

“It’s probably gonna be a bit harder than. Seeing as you’re learning all new conjugations.” she pointed out. “But, no need to worry. I’ll help you and you’ll be speaking french in no time.” 

Prudence smiled at her before they got started. She knew a lot of the basics, but was still struggling in certain areas. It was a lot of mixing up words that sounded similar and messing up conjugations. It would take a little bit of time before the girl got used to the flow of how french worked compared with spanish. Before she knew it, an hour had already passed by. 

“So translate this sentence then.” Prudence looked at the paper, before timidly speaking. 

“ _ Marc est anglais? _ ” 

“Yes! You got it!” Both girls were grinning as they began to pack up their things. “See, I told you it wasn’t too bad. You’re going to be fine.” 

“Thank you so much!” Prudence couldn’t keep from smiling. “There’s a test next Thursday and I know I would have failed had I not found a tutor.” 

“Really, it’s not a big deal.” Mily put her bag over her shoulder. “And if you want, we can schedule another tutoring session on Thursday morning, just to make sure you’re set with everything.” 

“Really? That would be amazing.” the two girls began to walk out of the library. “I promise I’ll have my allowance by then and I’ll pay you for the tutoring.” 

“Don’t stress about it. Just get it to me when you can.” 

“And you’re  _ sure  _ the first one is free?” 

“I promise. To be honest, this was my first time tutoring so I wasn’t sure how it was going to go.” 

“I couldn’t tell.” Prudence shook her head as they turned the corner. “You’re probably one of the best tutors I’ve had in awhile.” 

“You’re too nice!” Mily smiled; feeling warm inside at the comment. She was glad the girl seemed to learn something from her. 

“Really.” she said. “I was scared at first you’d be as mean as the guy who gave me your card.” 

“Which one?” 

“The tall blonde one.” Prudence described Jerome. “I tried to get a card from him, and he wanted cash up front. I managed to sneak one when he wasn’t looking.”

“That’s Jerome.” Mily rolled her eyes. Of course he had tried to hassle the younger kids when it came to giving out the cards. 

“He really isn’t all too terrible. Just…” 

“Selfish? Mean? Unforgiving?” 

“Unfortunately, yes.” 

“Then why are you helping him? With the tutoring business, I mean.” Prudence raised an eyebrow. 

“To help a friend.” Mily explained. “Besides, if it’s going to help you with your french, than I don’t mind.” 

The two made their way onto the football field where the junior team was beginning to practice. Prudence swung her bag over her shoulder before turning to Mily with a grin on her face. 

“Thank you so much again. See you Monday?” Mily nodded before watching as the young girl made her way over to the rest of the team. She felt happy with herself after the tutoring session; seeing the difference she was able to make with the girl. It was refreshing to see that she was able to make a difference with the girls education. 

Soon enough, Mily found herself standing outside of the attic door; the only light source being the fachlights that each person held underneath the faces. Alfie insisted that it would add “ambiance” to the ceremony, while Jerome insisted that Alfie had no clue what the word meant. Either way, the group was now in a semi circle leading up to the attic door where Nina stood looking unafraid. Mily had found herself wedged between Amber and Jerome. 

“Are you Nina Martin?” 

“Yes.” 

“Can anyone confirm this?” 

“Me?” Nina looked around at the group. Mily couldn’t help but sigh at the boys childish laughter, before returning her attention to the main event. 

“Nina Martin, you are here to prove you are brave enough to live at Anubis House.” her eyes narrowed as she looked over the girl. “Swear on the graves of all your ancestors that you will never tell another living soul about tonight.” 

“I swear.” 

“Where’s Mick?” Amber interrupted. 

“He said he didn’t want to come. Tired or something-” 

“Shh!” Patricia glared at Alfie for interrupting. Amber frowned softly; causing Mily to place a hand on the girls shoulder in comfort. She offered her a soft smile as the ceremony continued on. 

“Oh, spirits of Anubis House, guide the new girl on her initiation test.” Patricia looked up at the ceiling as if there were spirits above her listening. Mily glanced over at Nina; who was trying her very best not to look scared. Nina caught her eye, and Mily offered her a comforting smile. The blonde returned the favor; seeming just a bit more relaxed. 

“And, keep her from harm in the haunted attic-”

“Come on, this is ridiculous-” Fabian interrupted; having had enough of Patricia’s game. 

“Shh!” she smacked him on the arm before turning to Nina. “Unlock the door.” 

Nina took the key out of her pocket, and turned around to unlock the door. As quietly as she could, she placed the key in the lock and turned; the door slowly opening with a creek. None of the other students had really ever seen the attic. From just looking through the door, they could see a narrow set of steps leading up. The walls were unfinished and chipping and cobwebs hung in the corners of the walls. You could even feel the chill just from looking through the door; leaving goosebumps on Mily’s forearms while the rest of the group shuddered. 

“I just have to go up there and bring something back? And then I’m done?” Patricia nodded as Nina looked out at the group. “I mean you guys didn’t boobytrap the place or anything?” 

“Course not.” Patricia answered shortly before ushering the girl through the door.

“And we’ll be right here waiting for you.” Mily reassured her. Nina nodded before slowly making her away into the room. Mily looked around at the group before turning to Jerome. 

“You didn’t booby trap the place, right?” 

“Pfft, no.” Jerome crossed his arms. “This is all entirely Patricia. Besides, we have no way to get in. Nina had to key.” 

Just as Nina made her way up the first stair, Patricia darted forward, key in hand, and shut the door before locking it. Mily’s eyes widened as the rest of the group let out a chorus of gasps. They could hear pounding on the door as Nina began to freak out. 

“What are you doing?!” Fabian whispered harshly. 

“What does it look like?” 

“Hey, what’s going on?!” Nina was banging on the door hysterically. “Let me out!” 

“Patricia, this is getting out of hand,” Mily turned to face the redhead. “Let her out.” 

“Not until you tell us what you know about Joy’s disappearance.” Patricia crossed her arms. 

“I don’t know anything!” Mily could hear Nina’s voice breaking. 

“Then, you’ll have to stay there until the morning.” 

Mily couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She knew Patricia wanted to find out what happened to Joy, but she didn’t know she would go this far to figure it out. 

“Patricia, that’s enough.” Mily defended Nina before going over to the door. “Nina, just take a deep breath-” 

“Alright Patricia, you’ve had your fun.” Fabian took the girl aside. “Now, unlock the door.” 

“Yeah, Patricia this is getting silly.” Jerome began to look a bit uneasy at the situation. 

“Whose side are you  _ on _ ?” Patricia glared at him before pushing past Mily. “Last chance newbie.” 

“I know nothing!” 

“You’re not really going to leave her in there all night, ae you?” Amber asked. 

“Let me out!” 

“Stop banging!” 

“Nina, just try and calm down-” 

“Hey, let me out!” Nina called even more desperate than before, if that was possible. “There’s something up there!” 

“Open the door! The zombie are coming!” Alfie cowered as Patricia rolled her eyes; taking the key and attempting to unlock the door. 

“Hurry!” 

“Patricia hurry up!” 

“What’s all that noise?!” a voice boomed as footsteps came down the hallway; the group scrambled away from the door; all except for Mily who found herself back against the door. She felt herself go white as Victor waltzed into the hallway. 

“What’s going on? Why are you all out of bed?” he glanced over at Mily who was against the door. “Were you trying to break down this door?” 

Mily went to answer, before someone beat her to the punch. 

“We thought we heard mice.” she turned to see Jerome looking directly at Victor. Their eyes met for a split second before he looked back at the older man. 

“There was scurrying.” Mily finished, as Victor turned to look down at her. “We wanted to see if we could catch them. Set them free.” 

“Go to bed.” he said deathly quiet. “Now! Or I’ll have you all in detention!” 

The group scrambled; all but Mily who still had her back against the door. Victor turned to look back at her. 

“I assure you anything  _ lurking  _ around where it doesn’t belong, will be dealt with by me personally.” he gestured for her to step aside which she did so with gusto, before he turned back to the door. “Bed, Miss Bellefleur.” 

Mily darted away from the door before entering her room; closing the door as she took a minute to collect herself. They’d nearly gotten themselves caught. As quietly as she could, Mily cracked open the door to watch Victor go back downstairs. 

To her horrors, the attic door was now open; without Victor in sight. 


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think one of my favorite tropes throughout House of Anubis is when Amber says something that is just beyond dumb and we see Fabian's reaction. Like, when Amber spells ghost G-O-S-T and he nearly spits out his drink; that's SO FUNNY! So of course I made sure to include that in a chapter and I'll probably do more. But please enjoy this chapter!! And again, if you have any constructive criticisms please comment!!! My muse always grows when people comment. Enjoy!

Mily waited for a minute before making her way out of her room and into the hallway. The door to the attic seemed to be open; leaving her to fear the worst. If Victor so much as caught Nina up there, she’d be shipped right back to America without even being here for a week.

“Where’s Victor?” Mily jumped; startled as she caught sight of Fabian and Amber behind her. Fabian hushed Amber as he too looked over at the door.

“I think he went into the attic.” Mily answered.

“Is she still up there?” Mily nodded before looking back. “I think Victor is up there, too.”

Before they could investigate further, footsteps ascended from the top of the stairs. All three quickly darted into the nearest room in an attempt to hide.

“He hasn’t got her.” Fabian observed as Victor came down the stairs and locked the attic door. He scanned the hallway once more time to check for any other students. Fabian was almost so sure he’d seen them peaking through the door, before Victor retreated back to his office. As soon as he was gone, the three quickly made their way over to the attic door. Fabian gave a quick turn of the knob.

“Locked.” Mily identified.

“Right, let’s go get the key from Patricia.”

Mily led the charge as they entered Patricia’s room. Patricia, who had looked as if she was sleeping, found herself sitting up immediately as her room filled the the group of them.

“Patricia, give us the key.” Fabian stated calmly. Patricia shuffled her hands before looking down in embarrassment.

“I haven’t got it.”

“Liar.” Amber crossed her arms.

“Seriously! I haven’t!”

“Then where is it?” Fabian asked. Mily could see how agitated he was getting, and place a calming hand on his shoulder. He looked at her before taking a deep breathe and looking back at Patricia.

“Where’s the key, Patricia?” Mily urged her to answer.

“Threw it out the window…” she mumbled under her breath.

“You did what?!” Fabian exclaimed.

“Which window?” Amber asked. “This one?”

“Yeah.” Patricia nodded. “I-I think it went into the bushes?”

Fabian took a look out the window and was barely able to see anything let alone a tiny rusty key. Mily couldn’t help but stare at Patricia; wondering what had gotten into the girls head.

“There’s no use Fabian. We won’t be able to look until morning.” Mily brought him away from the window. “What a mess.”

“I think we should go and tell Victor everything.”

“No, we can’t do that!” Patricia exclaimed; reaching out for Amber.

“Well we can’t just leave her in there!” Fabian stormed out of the room, followed by Amber. Mily turned to look at Patricia who looked at her with pleading eyes.

“Mils, come on. You have to believe me.” she only sighed before following the others out; missing the annoyed and disappointed glare from Patricia. Fabian and Amber were staring at the door when Mily came up to them.

“How are we going to get Nina out?” Amber asked before the door swing open. Mily and the others gasped just as Nina emerged from behind the door; a look of excitement and adrenaline on her face fading as she saw the three.

“Nina!” they exclaimed.

“What’s the matter?” she furrowed her eyebrows. “You guys look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”

“How did you-”

“Shh, you’ll have Victor up again.” Nina hushed Fabian, who couldn’t help but grin at the girl.

“Are you okay?” Fabian asked. Nina nodded; still smiling.

“What was it like up there?” Amber looked at her with wide eyes. “Did you see any ghosts?”

“Nah,” Nina grinned at them. “Just some mice. And spiders. _And_ possibly a rat.”

“Ugh!! You’re so brave!” Amber pulled the girl in for a bone crushing hug; causing Mily to chuckle. “Night you three.”

With that, Amber sauntered off and into her shared room with Mara. Mily looked to Nina before placing a hand on her shoulder.

“And you’re sure you’re okay?” she asked the girl. “You seemed pretty spooked before.”

“Nothing that a little sleep won’t cure.” Nina assured her. “But thanks.”

Mily nodded before waving to the two as she went off to her own bedroom. Almost immediately after she reached her bedroom, she felt a wave of exhaustion hit her. It seemed as though the adrenaline rush from earlier in the night had just about worn off; leaving her ready to sleep for three years if she could. Mily kicked off her shoes and quickly changed into a pair of shorts and an over-sized gray sweatshirt. Almost as soon as her head hit the pillow, she heard

_-a knock on her door.  Mily opened the door to reveal her friend; who had a particularly large grin on her face._

_“It’s stopped raining!” she grinned._

_“I already knew that.” Mily rolled her eyes before going to put on her shoes; assuming the girl had come to collect her for whatever adventure they were to seek out next._

_“Which_ means _we can play outside now!” she smiled before taking the girls hand. “Come on!”_

_The young girl whisked Mily away with her as the two ran out into the woods by her house. The sun was out which left everything glistening in the light; covered in raindrops. Mily sometimes thought there was nothing prettier than the calm after a rain shower. Everything was so cool and crisp and left her in absolute awe of its beauty._

_The two continued to run until they stopped upon seeing their other friend; sitting on the steps of his house; looking miserable._

_“What’s wrong?” Mily asked frowning._

_“There’s nothing to do. Father says I have to play outside today. He’s working.”_

_“Well, there’s nothing wrong with playing outside.” Mily looked over at her friend who had her hands on her hips._

_“Yeah, but everything is wet. And muddy…”_

_“So?”_

_“So we’re going to get dirty.” Mily looked over at the two before grinning and tapping her friend on the shoulder._

_“What was that for?” he said._

_“You’re it!” And with that, the game had begun. Once the three had begun running around, all thoughts of rain and mud were forgotten. Mily was a fast runner, so she almost never got caught when they played tag. Her friends however… well let’s just say it seemed to be a game that only went two ways._

_“You’re it Mily!”_

_“No fair, you hid! That’s cheating!” she grinned as the two ran ahead of her; desperate to beat the other and not get tagged. Both of the girls skirts were littered with mud stains and their friends pants had mud all the way up to the knee. Mily watched as the two found their way up the stairs and into their house while Mily followed them through the door._

_“You guys can’t go inside!! That’s against the-” whatever she had been about to say had all been forgotten as she stopped behind her friends; who were both stunned in silence as their friends Father stood before them; a look of anger across his face._

_“I thought I told you to play outside.”_

_“We were playing outside father-”_

_“And instead I find you shrieking and screaming as though you were monkey!” Mily flinched as he raised his voice; holding her friends hand in comfort. “And, to top it all off, you’ve dragged mud all over the floors._

_“I’m sorry, father. We didn’t mean to-”_

_“Oh, I’m sure you didn’t.” he looked down at the three trembling kids before him. “Now, I want to see this floor spotless in the next hour. Have I made myself clear?”_

_All three of them nodded as they began to take off their shoes to go and grab the cleaning supplies._

_“Except you, Miss Bellefleur,” she looked up at him. “You are to go home. And I don’t want to see you hanging around here for quite some time. Understand?”_

_“Yes sir.”_

_“Good. Go.”_

_“Go.”_

_Go._

“-go…”

“I just wanted to borrow notes is all.” Mily’s eyes fluttered open to see Amber standing above her.

“Amber?” she sat up; rubbing her eyes and staring at the clock. It was already past six forty, and Amber was already dressed for school. She groaned, realizing she had slept in for the second day in a row.

“You look like you could really use a facial.” Amber sighed before sitting next to her.

“Sorry, I’m just tired is all. Long night.”

“Oh, tell me about! I was so scared last night that I had to do three facials to make sure I wasn’t going to get lined from frowning.” Mily chuckled at this before standing up and stretching before pulling out a clean skirt and jumper to put on for school. She quickly ran a brush through her hair and changed into her clothes.

“How did you find the time to do three facials?” Mily asked Amber as she tucked her concealer wand into her bag.

“Oh, Mily. There’s always time for beauty.” The girl sighed dramatically before getting up and leaving the girls room. Mily sat down on her bed and was slipping on her shoes when she noticed something on her leg. She reached over and rubbed at it with her thumb. It kind of looked like…

“Mud? How’d that get there?” she wiped the stain off her leg before shaking her head and tugging on her other shoe. Making her way into the kitchen, she found a seat at the opposite side of the table and grabbed a plate and muffin.

“We were certain Victor was going to get you.”

“Yeah, either Victor or the zombies!” Alfie marveled at the girl.

“No zombies,” Nina chuckled. “Mostly rat bones.”

“Cool.” he nodded before grabbing an apple. Mily couldn’t help but chuckle at Alfie's satisfaction; earning a glare from Patricia.

“Was it really scary up there?” Mara asked.

“I thought it would be worse.” Nina replied. “It was actually kinda cool. I might move up there”

“Don’t you think she was brave?” Amber reveled; eyeing Patricia who only resorted to stabbing at her eggs harder than necessary.

“Even you have to admit Patricia, Nina passed her initiation with flying colors.” Fabian couldn't help but smile at Nina.

“No! She didn’t bring anything back did she?” Patricia glared at the girl with a smile.

“Well, actually…” Nina rummaged through her bag before pulling out an old leather bound book; earning a chorus of applause from the group. Patricia threw down her fork before taking her bag and leaving the room. Mily groaned; knowing nothing good would come of this if someone didn’t talk Patricia down. She got up out of her seat and went after the punk girl.

“Patricia wait!” she grabbed onto Patricia’s wrist.

“Why? So you can lector me?”

“You’re taking this all wrong, Trish.” Mily folded her arms. “Nina did exactly what you asked, even though she could have been _expelled_. Do you realize how lucky we all got that she didn’t get caught?”

“Why are you sticking up for her?” Patricia glared at her.

“You tried to _lock_ her in the attic!” Mily stressed. “Do you understand how scared she probably was?”

“None of you see through her stupid facade.” Patricia uncrossed her arms. “Joy disappeared, Mils. My best friend vanished and this _American girl_ just happened to show up the same day and take her place. I know she’s involved somehow and I’m not going to stop until I figure out what that little weasel is up to.”

“Patricia, stop!” Mily snapped at her. “Nina has nothing to do with this. You’ve been so cruel lately and I don’t like this side of you.”

“Yeah, well maybe you’re just not as good of a friend as I thought you were.” Mily’s eyes widened.

“Not been a good friend?” she crossed her arms. “How can you say that?”

“You haven’t exactly been very supportive.”

“And who’s fault is that?” Mily retorted. “I’ve tried to stick up for you, really I have. But it does get a bit difficult when you’re throwing water on Nina and locking her in the attic every chance you get. And for you information, I _have_ been supportive. I’ve only been supportive.”

Patricia went silent before glaring at her. She knew Mily was right in some aspect, but she wasn’t the type to give in and lose a battle.

“Yeah, well maybe we just aren’t getting along these days.” she crossed her arms. “And maybe we shouldn’t.”

“Fine. Maybe you’re right.” Mily scoffed at her before venturing into the kitchen. Almost everyone seemed to have left; leaving her alone in the kitchen. She leaned her head on the counter and let out a groan. She was so frustrated with the way Patricia was acting.

“Trouble in Mildew land?” she looked up to see Jerome leaning against the wall; an ever present smirk on his face.

“Please, Jerome, not today.” she turned on the kettle before getting out a travel mug. “Just not today.”

Mily took her plate from breakfast and placed it into the sink while she washed her hands. She heard Jerome come up behind her and it took everything in her not to snap at him.

“I didn’t really mean to overhear your conversation. I just came to remind you about our deal.” he shrugged. “I have more clients for you.”

“The deal is off.”  

“What?!” that seemed to get his attention. “What do you mean our deal is off?”

“I mean, our deal is off.” Mily shrugged; looking at him stoically. “I have too much to do to worry about whether or not Patricia is getting pranked. I’m sorry, I can’t help you anymore.”

“Mily, sweet dear Mily, you are the _only_ good French speaker in this school. I’m begging you.” he leaned over the counter. Mily looked at him with a smile as she leaned forward.

“Try Mara.”

Jerome groaned before going back into the kitchen to grab a muffin. Mily finished brewing a pot of coffee before pouring the rest into her travel mug. She watched as Jerome picked up his bag and threw it over his shoulder; looking seemingly more stressed. With a sigh, she made her way out of the kitchen.

“Jerome, wait.” Mily caught up with him; grabbing her own stuff. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound…bitchy.”

“Mildew’s using strong words now.”

“Hey,” she smacked his arm. “Just take the apology. I really didn’t mean to take it out on you. Patricia is just so-”

“Infuriating?”

“Yeah.” Mily nodded. “I know I shouldn’t be blaming her though. She’s worried about her friend is all. It’s not her fault that she cares enough to make everyone else’s lives hell.”

“Doesn’t mean she should treat you so rude.” Jerome chuckled. “I expect for her to be mean to almost everyone here. But all you’ve only helped her.”

“I guess.” Mily shrugged before tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “It’s not her being rude to me that bothers me so much. She’s treating everyone like trash; _especially_ Nina. And then she gets all bent out of shape when someone puts her in her place and-”

“Just _what_ do you think you are still doing here.” the two looked up to see Victor lingering at the top of the steps.

“Nothing Victor, we were just-”

“Loitering, being noisy, when you should be off at school.” he began to make his way down the stairs. “Now, you too are to go off to school. And I don’t want to see you hanging around here for quite some time. Understand?”

Mily furrowed her eyebrows; feeling a chill run down her spine.

“What did you say?”

“Am I speaking in gibberish, Miss Bellefleur?” Victor all but glared at her as she backed toward the door; Jerome giving her an odd look. “I said-

_I don’t want to see you hanging around here for quite some time. Understand?_

_The mud was all over the floor_

_\- tag, you’re it! -_

_“_ Understand?” Mily blinked; not realizing that she was leaning all the way against the door. She reached out for the door knob behind her.

“Y-yes, sir.”

“Good. Go.” Mily grabbed Jerome’s hand and dragged him outside; closing the door in between them and Victor. She quickly made her way down the path and-

_Mily was a fast runner, so she almost never got caught when they played tag-_

“What was all that about?”

“What?” Mily turned to look at Jerome, who was standing at the top of the stoop.

“You froze up in there. I know Victor can be scary but-

_there’s nothing wrong with playing outside_

_I’m sorry, father. We didn’t mean to-_

“Mily-”

“We didn’t mean to get mud on the floor!” Mily cover her mouth with her hand. Jerome looked at her quizingly before coming down the stairs and over to her. She looked down at her shoes; her cheeks suddenly turning bright red as she was embarrassed by her outburst.

“Are you cold?”

“What?” Mily looked up at Jerome, who was suddenly in front of her.

“I asked if you were cold.”

“Why would you ask if I-”

“You’re shaking.” Mily looked down at her hands; only now noticing that her hands were trembling softly. “I’m not really cold, just-”

“Liar.” Jerome chuckled before taking off his jumper and throwing it into Mily’s hands. The brunette hesitated before placing down her travel mug and pulling the jumper over her head. It was slightly warm and smelled of mint.

“Thanks.” she smiled at him. “Where’d this come from? You being polite?”

“Oh, this won’t be happening often.” Jerome chuckled. “I just don’t need my business partner freezing to death.”

“I told you, I’m not helping you scam anymore eighth graders.”

“Aah, but see just you watch. We’ll be back in business in no time.”

“Whatever you say Jerome.” Mily rolled her eyes as the two made their way into the school building.

“What were you going on about earlier?” Jerome asked quizingly as they got to their lockers. “About the mud and all.”

“Oh, it was nothing.”

“It didn’t seem like nothing.” he crossed his arms over his chest.

“What are you, a therapist?” Jerome just gave her a look; causing her to sigh. “Just a weird dream I had. Don’t worry about it.”

Before Jerome could say anything, Alfie came barreling into the two of them; an excited grin plastered on his face.

“Before you say one stupid word, Alfie, I’ve been thinking.” Jerome wiped the smirk right off Alfie's face. “You should do something for Amber.”

Alfie must have been looking at Jerome as if he had three heads, because he let out a groan and thumped Alfie on the back of the head.

“You know, something romantic. She made the first move with that kiss, now you you need to follow up with a few moves of your own.” Mily could see the cogs in Alfie’s brain working, before he looked up at them with a grin.

“You’re right! Like what?”

“-it’s not about that.” Mily’s ears picked up, as she noticed Patricia and Mara leaning against where their lockers were. “Nobody seems to be taking this Joy thing seriously but me. She would have called me by now, Mara, you _know_ she would.”

“It is strange,” Mara piped in, shrugging. “I’ll give you that.”

“It’s more than strange. But no one cares.” Patricia crossed her arms, before catching Mily overhearing their discussion. The red head glared at her before speaking up again.

“Everyone’s more interested in buddying up with the new girl. As if Joy never existed.” she blushed after getting caught, and tried to avert her attention as Patricia literally began to dismantle Nina’s locker. Before she could take a look inside however, Mr. Sweet was soon standing right behind her; a look of agitation littering his face.

“Vandalism will _not_ be tolerated in this school, Patricia.” Mr. Sweet took the locker door out of her hand. “You will pay for that to be repaired and you are also grounded.”

Some of the people who had been standing around observing the situation began to snicker as the girl went into another one of her outbursts. Mily put her head down; only catching one last glare from Patricia as she stormed away.

“Boy, she’s really lost it, hasn’t she?” Alfie chuckled. Mily all but smacked him upside the head.

“Don’t be mean, Alfie.” she scolded him. “How would you feel if Jerome went missing?”

“I’d throw a party for the kidnapper.” Jerome smacked Alfie in the head and chased him down the hallway; both of them laughing and causing mass chaos wherever they went. Mily rolled her eyes; chuckling as she threw her bag over her shoulder. Those boys would be the death of her.

By the time dinner had rolled around, Mily was just about finished with her school work. She’d spent almost the entire afternoon working on homework do to her lack of a laptop. By the end of the week she’d be able to order a new one, but until then she was practically stranded. It left her no time to play piano like she wanted to. She could just kill Jerome for ruining her computer.

Mily wandered over to the dinner table; taking a seat in between Amber and Nina. Everyone was still filling in from whatever else they had been up to while Trudy set down plates of food in the middle of the table. It looked like they were having pasta with alfredo and Mily only hoped it didn’t end up all over the table this time.

“Mily,” she turned her head to see Amber looking at her. “After dinner, can you re-curl my hair?”

“Sure, I guess.” she gave the curl an odd look. “Why do you want you hair curled before bed? Isn’t that redundant?”

“No, it’s not redumbdant- whatever that means.” Mily heard Fabian nearly spit out his water at the blonde girl’s comment. Amber looked around to make sure no one was listening before whispering into Mily’s ear.

“I have a secret date tonight.” Mily eyed the girl.

“A secret date? With who?”

“Mick, obviously.” Amber rolled her eyes. “Please keep up.”

Mily looked over to where Mick was. He was sitting in between Nina and Mara; looking as uninterested as ever. He looked up at Amber and almost glared at her, is what it looked like. Turning to Amber, and then back at Mick, Mily frowned.

“Isn’t Mick still mad at you for kissing Alfie?”

“Oh please,” Amber rolled her eyes. “He’s not mad. He’s just jealous. That was the point.”

“When did he ask you?”

“Earlier today. He left a message on my bed that said to meet him in the laundry room tonight.” Amber gushed as they began to serve themselves pasta.

“Why didn’t he just tell you in person?”

“I don’t know.” Amber shrugged. “Maybe he’s just feeling romantic. Either way, will you help me curl my hair? It always looks so good when you do it.”

“Fine. After dinner I’ll help you curl your hair.”

“Yay!” Mily plugged her ear as Amber squealed next to her; hugging her.

Soon enough, dinner was over and Amber was sitting in the Mily’s vanity chair. Half her head was curled and Mily was just starting another layer. Mily had done Amber’s hair before and was no stranger to just how thick the girls hair was. She didn’t mind doing it, though. It gave her something to do while getting the chance to talk to Amber. She may not have been the brightest, but Amber was still a fun person to talk with. Amber had this way of lightening up anyone’s day and it was almost impossible not to feel better after chatting with her.

“And I told her you _can’t_ wear those kind of stockings with her black loafers. But alas, she’ll never learn, Mily.” Amber sighed dramatically; causing Mily to chuckle as she picked up another piece of hair to curl.

“I’m telling you, Amber, Mrs. Andrews is never going to take you fashion advice.” Mily shook her head. “She’s not the type to care what kind of stockings she wears.”

“All I’m saying is my fashion advice tends to help people out in the love department. Don’t you remember Gracie from last year? All it took was a little hair cut and a change of accessories and then boom; she and Norman hit it off.”

“I guess, but is Mrs. Andrews really who you should be focusing on? I don’t think she’s looking for romance.”

“I guess you’re right.” Amber frowned before a mischievous grin fell on her face. “I’ll just have to work on someone else.”

Mily looked up from what she was doing to see Amber grinning at her.

“No, Amber-”

“Yes Amber! You HAVE to let me make you over!”

“Amber, I’m not turning into one of your projects.” Mily shook her head before putting down the curling iron. “I finished you hair, now you can go on your date-”

“But, Mily, you’ve never let me given you a makeover!” Amber stood up and turned around to face the girl. “As long as I’ve known you, you’ve had the same exact haircut and style. Wouldn’t it be fun to just change things up a little?”

“I just…I dunno if change is a good idea right now.” Mily sat down on her bed; snuggling into her jumper. Amber’s eyes narrowed for a second before she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Hang on, isn’t that a boys jumper?”

“How can you see the difference between uniform jumpers?”  Mily reiterated.

“You underestimate my fashion skills. Do _not_ try to change the subject.” Amber came and sat next to the girl. “Now I want to know where you got a boys jumper. Did someone give it to you? Do I know him? Is he cute? Oh my gosh, are you secretly dating-”

“Amber!” Mily held up her hands in defense. “I’m not secretly dating someone. I was just…cold this morning and Jerome offered me his jumper.”

“Hang on.” Amber gawked at her. “ _Jerome?_ ”

“Yes, what’s the big deal?”

“We’re talking about Jerome Clarke. Jerome “I steal from eighth graders and put spiders on girl’s desks” Clarke.  The _literally_ most selfish person on the planet. And _he_ gave you his jumper?”

“So?”

“So, he _totally_ likes you!”

“What?!” Mily exclaimed, wide eyed. “No, no, no, no, no, he doesn’t like me!”

“And you so like him back.” Amber grinned, squealing.

“Absolutely not. He’s cruel and mean and he steals from kids!” Mily exclaimed.

“Yeah but, lately you’ve been hanging around him more.”

“I made a deal with him. I’d help him with his tutoring business if he would leave Patricia alone and stop pulling Joy pranks.” Mily crossed her arms.

“Oh Mily,” Amber sighed. “So naive.”

“Jesus.” Mily ran a hand across her face. “How about I make you a deal, Amber. If you will _stop_ talking about Jerome I’ll let you…cut my hair.”

Mily didn’t think she’d ever heard Amber squeal as loud as she did when Mily finished that sentence. She covered her ears before Amber pulled her into the vanity chair she had been previously sitting in and grabbed a brush.

“It’s about time you got a haircut.” Amber began to brush the girls hair. “I swear, you’re hair has been this long since I’ve known you. You would look so good with shoulder length hair.”

“That’s kind of short, don’t you think?” Mily frowned as she looked at her hair. Her hair went all the way down to her belly button and she’d never really had short hair. At least not since she was little.

“No. You’d look so good with shoulder length hair! It would frame your face quite nicely.” Amber set down the brush before rummaging through Mily’s desk drawer until she found a pair of scissors.

“Amber, have you ever actually cut hair before?” Mily feared for the answer.

“Of course I have.” Amber took a piece of hair by Mily’s shoulders and lined the scissors up with where she was holding it. “On my dolls when I was younger.”

Mily bit her lip and closed her eyes; afraid of the decision she just made.


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had a lot of time this week, so here's another chapter!!! I really do love Amber's character and I wanted her and Mily to have a very strong friendship I think. Let me know what you think!

The next morning, Mily woke up at her usual time of five thirty. The sun still hadn’t rose, so she knew she would have access to the shower before anyone else. After getting out of bed, she grabbed her toiletries and changed into a robe before making her way into the bathroom. Upon entering, she sat down her things on the shelf next to the shower and set on the water. She always tried to be as quiet as possible so as to not wake up anyone else. 

The steam from the shower had almost already fogged up the mirror, but not enough that Mily couldn’t see her reflection. She had to admit that despite her first hesitation, Amber had not done an entirely awful job on her hair. Her once long hair was now clipped to right above her shoulder. She made even cuts on every layer and it looked almost professionally done. Mily just hoped that it wouldn’t draw to much attention. 

After washing herself off for about five minutes, she got out of the shower and brushed her teeth. It didn’t take her a long time to finish up with using the bathroom, and she soon made her way back to her own room to change. She was lucky to find anything to wear as she hadn’t had time to do any laundry. Mily pulled on what clothes she could find before slipping on Jerome’s jumper. It was cold out and she still had to wash hers so she was stuck wearing it. 

Mily figured since it was so early, she could put on a load of laundry before anyone else got up. She picked up her hamper that was filled to the brim and made her way downstairs. After putting on her laundry, she planned to put on a pot of coffee before school. However, her plans soon changed as she entered the laundry room to find Amber slumped over on the washer; using a basket of laundry as a pillow. 

“Amber?” 

“Mick?” Amber jolted awake. 

“Not quite.” Mily set down the laundry basket as Amber sighed in frustration. “What’s wrong? Why are you sleeping here?” 

“Mick showed me up.” she sniffled.

“Oh, Ambs…” Mily pulled herself up onto the dryer and wrapped her arms around her friend. “I’m so sorry. I know how excited you were.” 

“I just don’t understand.” she went on. “Everything was perfect. I wore my best dress and you curled my hair and…I thought Mick liked me.” 

“He does Amber, I promise!” Mily reassured her. “Maybe he just forgot. Or fell asleep. He is always running around.” 

“Maybe you were right, and he’s angry I kissed Alfie.” Amber sniffled; more tears beginning to run down her cheeks. “I only wanted to make him jealous so that he would like me more. It just felt like we were losing our touch you know? I was beginning to get boring…”

“Now hey,” Mily turned the girl to face her. “You Amber Millington, are one of the most exciting people I’ve  _ ever _ met. There’s no way that you’re boring. And if that’s what Mick thinks, then he’s not good enough for you.” 

“I guess.” Amber shrugged; beginning to smile. “I am pretty amazing.” 

“Exactly. Besides, you do  _ not  _ let a boy tell you whether or not you’re boring. You’re so much more than just someone’s girlfriend.” Mily pulled away from Amber; who was beginning to wipe her tears off her face. 

“Sorry about all this.” Amber sighed. 

“Don’t worry about it. Just helping out a friend.” 

“You tend to do that a lot.” Amber observed before hopping down off of the washer; Mily suit. “You’re really good at it. People should pay you for this.” 

Mily chuckled softly before putting her laundry hamper into the washer. 

“I’m not really looking into the business of taking  money from my friends.” 

“All I’m saying is you can make good business.” The two girls laughed. “Seriously thanks.” 

“Again, it’s no problem.” Mily turned on the washer before turning to Amber. “There’s still like an hour before school. How about we got quickly curl your hair?” 

“Yes!” Amber grinned before pulling Mily back up the stairs; having cheered up from her previous stooper. Amber took a quick shower while Mily plugged in the curling wand. In about forty-five minutes, Amber was primped and ready for school. The two made their way downstairs to where most were already having breakfast. As soon as they walked through the door, everyone looked toward them. 

“What’s everyone staring at?” Mily asked, looking around at everyone’s face.

“You, duh.” Amber nudged her side before going to sit next to Nina. Mily smiled softly before heading into the kitchen and grabbing a plate to put her muffin on. She then found herself sitting in between Fabian and Jerome. 

“When did you cut your hair?” Fabian asked. 

“Last night.” Amber responded while buttering a piece of toast. “Didn’t I do a good job?” 

“You let Amber near your head?” Jerome gawked at her. “With something sharp?” 

“Yeah?” 

“And she lived to tell the tale!” Alfie caused a chorus of laughter, leaving Mily tomato red. 

“Oh, shut up Alfie.” Amber smacked him upside the head. “You’re just jealous because you could never get a girl as wonderful as Mily. She looks amazing.” 

Alfie shut up at this, frowning, while Jerome looked as if he was trying to hold back laughter. Mily rolled her eyes at his childish behavior before pouring herself a glass of orange juice. 

“Well, I think you look really nice, Mily.” Mara piped in, earning a grin from the now, short haired girl. 

“Yeah, you do look pretty nice.” Patricia also piped in from the end of the table. “What look were you going for again? Helmet head?” 

“Oh, grow up Patricia.” Mily mumbled before eating more of her muffin. 

“What? All I’m saying is that you achieved the look of someone biking around Paris.” this earned a chorus of laughter from Alfie and Jerome. Mily could tell that Patricia was going to be hostile like this for a while, and ignored her. However, there was a part of her that burned with embarrassment and hurt from what she said. Soon enough, she finished up her breakfast and got up to head to class. 

It wasn’t until the end of the day when Mily realized something fishy was going on. She’s just finished up with her AP lang class when she overheard Alfie and Jerome on the couch across from her. 

“So you really think that I have a chance with Amber?” she heard Alfie say as he scrolled through his laptop. She furrowed her eyebrows and listened more closely. 

“Oh, definitely.” Jerome assured him. “What happened last night was completely a fluke. I’m telling you that deep down, Amber still has the hots for you.” 

“But she clearly thought that Mick was going to be meeting her in the laundry room, not me.” Mily gasped softly and looked up at them. Alfie looked so crestfallen while Jerome only smirked; placing a hand on the boys back. 

“Don’t worry,” Jerome dismissed the boys worry. “If things go my way, you’ll be snogging Amber in the laundry room in no time.” 

Mily bit her lip and watched as Jerome looked up. Their eyes met and she crossed her arms over her chest. Jerome shrugged and Mily motioned for him to get up and follow her. After feeding Alfie a lame excuse, Jerome did as she said and followed her out into the hallway. 

“I knew it!” she poked him in the chest. “It was  _ Alfie _ who sent the message, wasn’t it? Not Mick!” 

“Yes, but don’t tell anyone, okay? He’s…embarrassed.” 

“Uhuh.” Mily crossed her arms. “Alfie hasn’t stopped talking about Amber since the ninth grade, Jerome. You’re going to have to come up with a better excuse than that.” 

Jerome looked at her sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head. Mily’s eyes narrowed. 

“You did it, didn’t you.” she accused him. “Somehow, you made it so Amber wouldn’t know who sent the message in order to mess around with them.” 

“Well, when you put it that way-” 

“Jerome!” Mily stepped forward. “You have to tell Alfie.” 

“Mildew, I can’t just tell him-” 

“You’re messing around with people’s feelings. That’s not right.” she stated softly. “How would you like it if someone was pulling at your heart strings just for fun.” 

Jerome eyed the girl standing in front of him. Mily could tell her was thinking, she just couldn’t tell what it was. She crossed her arms over her chest; waiting for an answer. Jerome let out a sigh. 

“Okay, how about this.” he started. “How about from here on out, I help only help Alfie instead of mess with him. Will that be good for you?” 

“It’s not ideal.” Mily commented. “But…I guess as long as you’re only helping him.” 

“And you won’t tell him I messed with his message?” Jerome asked her. 

“No.” she crossed her arms; earning a mischievous smile from Jerome. “Don’t you look like that.” 

“Look like what?” 

“I can see you plotting. It’s in your eyes.” Mily gestured towards his face. Jerome chuckled at this. 

“I’m not plotting. I  _ swear _ .” Mily rolled her eyes as they began to walk out of the building. 

“Jerome Clarke, you’re going to be the death of me-” 

“Mily!” the two turned around to see Prudence running over to them from the football field. 

“Hey, Prudence.” Miy grinned. 

“Can you still tutor me tomorrow morning?” the younger girl inquired. 

“Actually, she’s-” 

“Yep.” Mily cut Jerome off; earning a questioning look from the boy. “Six thirty in the library?” 

“You bet.” Prudence grinned and waved at her before running back to practice. 

“I thought you said you were done with the tutoring?” he asked in disbelief. 

“I did. I’m not tutoring anyone for you.” Mily answered as they wandered along the pathway for Anubis house. “I’m going to help Prudence because she’s sweet. No charge.” 

“Mily, please never go into business.” he held his head in his hands. “You are literally giving away your services for free. It’s like the first rule in business that you don’t do that!” 

“Well, it’s not going to be a business.” she shook her head. “I’m just helping out a friend.” 

Jerome groaned as they continued to walk on. 

“You’re relentless, Mily.”

“Huh.” Mily thought out loud as they reached the doors of Anubis House, stepping inside. 

“Huh what?”

“You called me Mily.” she raised an eyebrow. Jerome scoffed before closing the door behind them. 

“I so did not.” Mily scoffed before playfully hitting him on the shoulder. 

“You so did!” 

“Coats, bags now.” the two looked up as Victor emerged from his office and ascended the stairs. Mily was soon filled with the same dread as she felt this morning; although she still didn’t fully understand why she was feeling this way. Jerome could sense the discomfort in the girl as more of their house mates filled the hallway. 

“What for?”  Patricia asked; Mily not even registering that Patricia had walked in. 

“I need to search them.” Victor held his hands out as people started to hand over their bags. 

“But we haven’t got anything in them.” the red head held her bag out of arm's reach.. 

“No butts, give them to me.” he practically snatched Mily’s bag out of her hands. “You can have them back in half an hour.”

Mily didn’t stay in time to hear whatever reason Patricia gave to Victor to keep her bag. Instead she went into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. It seemed that she was drinking ample amounts of coffee recently which couldn’t be good for her. Nonetheless, she took out a mug from the cabinet. 

“How many cups of coffee have you had today?” she turned around to see Alfie standing behind her. 

“This will be my third cup today.” she smiled. “Want some?” 

“I’ll pass.” he held up a hand. “I don’t know how you can drink that stuff. I much prefer hot chocolate.” 

“I’ve been drinking it since I was twelve. I’m used to it by now.” Mily explained before pouring herself a cup. 

“But it’s so gross. And bitter.” Alfie made a face before his eyes lit up. “You should try my homemade, sugar special hot chocolate. It start out with hot chocolate topped with whip cream, marshmallow, sprinkles and chocolate syrup. And a bendy straw for fun.” 

“Alfie, that sounds like diabetes in a cup.” she chuckled, taking a sip of her coffee. “I’ll have to pass.”

“One day, Mildew.” he glared at her with a grin. “One day…” 

Mily chuckled before taking her cup of coffee upstairs with her. The only good thing that was going to come with her bag being confiscated was the fact she could practice piano for the first time all week. She’d been so busy hand writing all of her notes that she didn’t have any time to plunk anything out. As she reached her bedroom, she closed the door and placed her cup of coffee on her desk before sitting down at her keyboard. 

“What to practice…” she picked up her box of music books and flipped through them until she stumbled upon a piano book of old songs. She opened it up and began to scan the table of contents; looking for something to play. Eventually she settled for a song she knew well enough. Placing the book in front of her, she put her hands on the keys before beginning the opening intro. 

“Not a word, from your lips…” the words to the the song fell off of the tip of her tongue as she played along. As Mily played the chords and notes, she felt more relaxed than she had been all week. With everything going on this week she had been more stressed than ever and it was nice to be able to just take a break from it all. 

“We don’t have to take our clothes off, to have a good time,” she sang along with the song as the chords grew louder and louder; her fingers gliding across the keys. She really needed this break in between all the chaos. 

“...and drink some cherry wine.” she finished before sighing. 

“Wow.” Mily turned to see Amber and Mara standing in her doorway. She groaned. 

“Why is there always someone listening whenever I play?” 

“Because you’re amazing?” Amber scoffed before walking over to her; Mara following in suit.  

“I always forget that you’re such an amazing singer.” Mara grinned at the girl. “Good choice in song might I add.” 

“Thanks.” Mily closed the book on the her music stand before turning to the girls. 

“We just came to bring you your bag. Victor’s done searching them.” Mara handed the girl her bag which Mily accepted greatly. 

“Fantastic. It’s gonna take me even longer to finish all my homework.” she pulled out her notebooks and set them on her desk. 

“Still no computer?” Mily nodded. 

“Yep. Remind me to strangle Jerome for that one.” 

“I’m sure you’re  _ so  _ mad at him.” Amber nodded with a small grin. Mily shot her a look with her eyes and Mara looked in between the two. 

“Am I missing something?” she asked; confused by the glances they were exchanging. 

“Nothing-” 

“Mily is in love.” Amber grinned. Mara looked at her with wide eyes. 

“With who?” she inquired. 

“No one!” Mily groaned; holding her head in her hands. “Amber doesn’t know what she’s saying.” 

“Whatever you say,  _ Mildew _ .” she winked at the girl before pulling Mara out of the room with her. Mily let out a frustrated sigh before going over and sitting on her bed; wrapping her arms around a pillow and burying her face in it. She knew Amber’s heart was in the right place, but she was becoming annoyed with the sudden ‘you like Jerome’ conversation they kept falling into. He was just a friend and she didn’t like him like that. All she wanted was Amber to drop the subject. 

Things were quiet until the next day in history class. Mily had been sitting in her normal seat when Alfie and Jerome waltzed in; just walking in before Mick. Just as they were about to sit in their regular seat, Jerome pushed Alfie into the seat next to Amber before plopping into the seat next to Mily. 

“What are you doing?” she asked eyeing him with a frown. She watched as Mick noticed Alfie sitting next to Amber and glared at the two before taking a seat next to one of the other kids in their class. 

“What? Can’t a friend just sit with a friend in class?” Jerome raised an eyebrow. 

“Not when the friend is someone who steals candy from babies.” she crossed her arms. “What are you up to Jerome?” 

“I’m not up to anything!” he held up his hands. “Besides, we have to start working on our project and I didn’t want to work with Alfie. I’m not looking to get an F for this semester. Besides, you owe me.” 

“And why do I owe you?” Mily crossed her arms. 

“Because you left me to deal with all the middle schoolers who I promised a tutor.” 

“Well who’s fault is that?” she reputed. “I’m not the one who decided to over-invest into something without thinking it through.” 

“Oh come on, Mildew. Pleeeaaasssee…” he begged her; folding his hands in front of her. “Please, please, please, please-” 

“Fine!” Mily smacked him on the arm. “We can work on the project together. But you better pull your weight.” 

“Done.” Mily smirked at him, earning a smirk in return from him. Eventually she just rolled her eyes and smacked his shoulder again. All the while, Amber had been watching the two with a satisfied smirk on her mouth. 

“So, have you guys given any thought to your ancient history projects yet?” Mr. Winkler got everyone’s attention as he sat on his desk in the front of the room. “Mick?” 

“Yeah,” Mick answered. “History of the gladiatorial games.” 

“Excellent!” 

“With a practical demonstration of me as a gladiator,” Mick leaned toward Alfie in his desk, a frown on his face. “ _ Humiliating _ and destroying Alfie is a  _ very  _ public arena.” 

“Right.” Mr. Winkler furrowed his eyebrows before averting his eyes to someone new. “Fabian, anymore thoughts on your project?” 

“Yeah,” Fabian looked toward Nina. “Me and Nina thought we might do something on Egyptian mythology.” 

“Yeah, especially with Anubis House being named after an Egyptian god.” she smiled back at Fabian. It was almost stupid how oblivious the two were that they liked each other, Mily thought. She thought about how cute they would be once they figured that out. 

“Nice one, nice one.” Mr. Winkler smiled at the two. “You know, I’m a particular fan of Egyptian mythology. All that interest in life after death and living forever.”

“Ugh! Who’s d want to live forever? Imagine how wrinkled you’d get.”  Amber thought out loud, causing most of the class to erupt with laughter.

“Ha!” Mick let out an obnoxious laugh, causing Amber to glare at him.

“What?” she nearly snarled at him. 

“Right, Egyptian mythology, good.” Mr. Winkler smiled at Nina and Fabian. “Anything? Anyone else?”  

“What’s wrong with you?” Mily couldn't help but overhear Amber whispering to Mick. 

“What do you  _ think  _ is wrong with me?” he snapped back; causing Mily to frown. 

“I have absolutely  _ no idea- _ ”

“You two, quiet.” Mr. Winkler shushed the two just as the bell rang. “Okay, we will continue this session after lunch.” 

The rest of the class began to fill out of the room while Amber continued to glare at each other. Amber went to go talk to Mick, but he only glared at her before hastily leaving the classroom; leaving Amber looking deflated. Mily threw her friend a sympathetic look while watching Alfie approach Amber. 

“Hey Amber,” Amber turned around to face Alfie. “Can I carry your books for you?” 

“Thanks Alfie, but I think I can manage.” she just about spat in her face before storming off. Alfie looked down at his shoes before Jerome clapped him on the back. 

“Alfie what kind of line was that?” Jerome chuckled. “I’m surprised you didn’t try the corney red rose thing again.” 

“Stop being so mean, Jerome.” Mily rolled her eyes at his rudeness. “Alfie, what you did was sweet. Amber just has a lot on her mind right now.” 

“You think?” Alfie asked and Mily nodded. 

“In fact, I’d be quite happy if you carried my book for me.” Alfie grinned at the sweet gesture before taking the books out of Mily’s hands. 

“Thanks, Mils.” Mily grinned at Alfie as the three of them left the classroom. Alfie really as a sweet guy, and Mily never did like the way Jerome sometimes took advantage of him. She knew how desperately Alfie wanted to go out with Amber and he always used it to his advantage. It was one of the many things about Jerome that Mily wish he wouldn’t do. 

The small group of them walked outside to eat lunch here the rest of their class had gone. As soon as he had walked out the door, Mily was immediately dragged away from the two boys by Amber; who plopped her down next to herself and Mara. 

“Spill. Now.” Amber crossed her arms as Miy gave her a bewildered look. 

“Spill what?” 

“You and Jerome, of course.” Amber rolled her eyes at the girl. “Honestly, I don’t understand how you can be so oblivious sometimes.” 

“How many times must I tell you, Amber, there’s nothing going on between me and Jerome. If anything, he’s just being annoying.” 

“Annoyingly charming,” Amber cut in. “To you, anyway. Mara, you agree with me, right?” 

“I mean, you two  _ were  _ acting pretty chummy in history just now.” the brunette grinned. 

“Mara, no, not you too-” 

“Just face it, Mily. You like Jerome. End of story.” Amber crossed her arms; leaving Mily to bury her head in her hands. 

“Hey Amber, catch!” Mily watched as Alfie went to throw Amber the football in his hands; causing it to bounce right off of her head. 

“Alfie!” Amber groaned; holding her forehead. Alfie winced and apologized before wandering back over to Jerome who was laughing at the incident. 

“As if I’d  _ ever  _ see anything in him.” Amber rubbed where the ball had hit her head. 

“Hey, Alfie isn’t all that bad. He’s just trying to impress you.” Mily shrugged in Alfie’s defense. 

“Yeah, I mean Alfie did offer to carry your books for you.” Mara chimed in. 

“At least he’s being nice to me.” Amber huffed; her eyes lingering over to where Mick was standing with Jerome. 

“Why don’t you go across and speak to Mick?” Mara asked. 

“He left me a note asking to meet up and then he didn’t show up.” Amber revealed. “Why would he do something like that?” 

“I don’t know.” Mily frowned softly at her friend. “Who can get inside the brain of a boy?” 

“No one, it’s not big enough.” Amber grinned at the two before the three of them were busting with giggles. 

“You’d need to shrink yourself and then some just to peak in.” Mara piped in, leaving them falling into even more fits of laughter. However, their laughter was cut short as they watched Mick run at Alfie and push him onto the ground. 

“Ow!”

“What was that for?” the group of them rushed forward to where Alfie was lying on the ground; clutching his ankle in his hands. 

“What was that, mate?” Jerome crouched down to where Alfie was moaning on the ground. 

“What, he’s faking! I barely even touched him!” Mick tried to defend himself. 

“Try to stand up.” Jerome helped Alfie into a standing position along with Amber, who was on his other side, and began to bring him back to Anubis House. Mily told Mara to catch up with the others before turning to Mick who was sti standing there in disbelief. 

“Mick, what’s gotten into you?” she asked softly. “This isn’t you, pushing people around.” 

“It’s all her fault, Mily. I didn’t do anything-”

“But that doesn’t give you a right to hurt your friends, and you know that.” she spoke calmly. “You have to apologize. To Alfie, to Amber-” 

“Apologize? Me?” Mick cut her off. “After what she did?! That two timing tramp-” 

“Hey!” Mily smacked Mick on the arm; fuming. “You don’t get to call her that. Amber is not a two timer and you know it.” 

“But she and Alfie-” 

“You and I both know that there has to be some kind of miscommunication here, Mick. Amer adores you. Although I’m not sure she would if she knew what you were saying about her right now.” Mick was silent for a moment; calming down after his outburst. “Now, you need to get your facts straight and go apologize. And I don’t want to ever hear you calling Amber, or any girl for that matter, names like that. Understand?” 

Mily didn’t stay to hear his answer before picking up her things and heading into the school building; clutching her bag to her chest. She rubbed her temples in the hopes that her oncoming headache would go away; wishing she had a cup of coffee in her hands. It seemed a day without drama was impossible to achieve. 


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooray! Another chapter! Sorry for the bit of a wait, the end of the year is always hectic for me. But I wanted to get out another chapter, and hopefully another two this weekend so fingers crossed!

Mily was glad that she skipped eating lunch at Anubis House, because she didn’t want to see the spectacle that was Alfie allowing Amber to wait on him hand and foot do to his “injury”. It was so obvious to her that he was faking; no one screamed that much from just falling over. Mily didn’t have the heart to tell Amber that he was using her. She was still mad at Mick for not showing up for their date and she knew Alfie was enjoying this one moment of Amber not shutting him out. In her opinion, it was good for both of them in a way, but she just needed to get out of the drama of it all. 

Mily was able to get a nice break from any drama up until her afternoon study hall period. She was in the common room of the school, coming up with ideas for the history project, when Jerome and Fabian walked into the room; Jerome looking like her would rather be anywhere else. 

“Hey Mick, just the guy we were looking for.” Fabian said with a smile as he pushed Jerome forward. “Jerome here has something he wants to tell you.” 

“Nah, I don’t really.” Jerome tried to pull away before Fabian pushed him back toward Mick. Jerome looked at him, as if to say  _ do I really have to do this _ . Jerome looked up a the ceiling before down at Mick with a stoic look.

“It isn’t true about Amber and Alfie.” he mumbled. 

“What?” Mick wondered out loud 

“What I said about Amber and Alfie,” he recalled. “It was just a joke.” 

“What about the date in the laundry room?” 

“Never happened.” Jerome explained. “Amber thought she was supposed to be meeting you there.” 

“But I didn’t know anything about it!” Mick exclaimed; before glaring up at Jerome. “You little-”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence before running out of the room; most likely in the hopes of fixing things over with Amber. Fabian smiled to himself, and said goodbye to Jerome before sauntering off to go find Nina. Jerome on the other hand did the opposite, and promptly threw himself on the couch opposite to Mily; rubbing his face with his hands and letting out a groan. 

“Oh, cheer up Jerome.” he turned to look at Mily who was smiling. “At least you won’t be running around any longer. Trying to make sure everyone is playing your game of lies.” 

“Oh, can it Mildew.” he threw a couch pillow at her; causing her to drop her books off of her lap. 

“Hey!” Without thinking, Mily threw the pillow right back at him and hit him square in the face; causing herself to erupt with laughter. 

“Oh, it’s on Mildew.”

Jerome picked up the pillow and began to hit Mily over the shoulder with the pillow until she got up and off of the couch. 

“Stop! Jerome!” she laughed and tried to back up until she couldn’t any longer; holding herself on the edge of the back. However, Jerome did not stop and continued to hit her; both of them continuing to laugh as they had a pillow fight in the middle of the common room. It didn’t stop until Jerome hit Mily particularly hard; sending her flying over the back edge of the couch and smacking the back of her head on the wall. 

“Shit,” she chuckled to herself as she clutched the back of her head. Jerome dropped the pillow and went around to where she was sprawled out on the floor. 

“Guess our pillow fight got a little bit too aggressive.” he grinned before helping her off of her feet; still laughing. 

“I guess you’re right.” she smiled up at him; absentmindedly biting her bottom lip. “I’m surprised Sweet didn’t come in here to break up such a dangerous brawl.” 

Jerome laughed before going over and sitting back on the couch that he had been before. Mily shook her head before pulling him up and onto the couch with her; pulling out her notebook that she had been working on before her arrived. 

“Come on, I wanna show you some ideas I had for our project.” she flipped open to the page where she had all of her notes. “So, I was thinking maybe we could do something along the lines of music? Maybe we pick a certain period and look into the different composers of the time. Music had a huge influence on a lot of history; especially with certain periods of time. Does that sound like something you’d be interested in doing?” 

Mily turned to look at Jerome who was looking at her with a very puzzled look on his face. She looked back at him with a grin, but equally as puzzled. 

“Something on my face…?” 

“No, just,” Jerome shrugged. “How can you like music so much?” 

“It’s been a large part of my life, I guess.” she shrugged. “My mom used to sing to me when I was little; different lullabies she learned from the placed she’d travelled. I started learning piano when I was younger and it’s just something I’ve learned to love.” 

“To each their own, I guess. I just can’t understand how you put in all this work on  _ just  _ the idea for the project.” he read over what she had written in her notebook. 

“Well, sorry for being interested in getting an A. That’s what you said you wanted, right?” 

“Of course I want an A.” he rolled his eyes. “You’re just making it way more than it needs to be.” 

“Well, I care to disagree. If anything everyone else isn’t putting in enough effort.” Mily insisted. 

“I always forget that you’re a workaholic.” 

“Well you can’t just expect straight A’s to fall on your plate.” she turned to face him. 

“Yeah, but staying up until the three in the morning doing homework is  _ ridiculous _ .” 

“I’ve only done that like-” 

“Every time we have a test.” Jerome rolled his eyes. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed you sneaking downstairs to make coffee at one in the morning. You aren’t as quiet as you think you are.” 

Mily felt her cheeks turn red and turned her head down to look toward her shoes. It wasn’t uncommon for Mily to be up late at night; studying and drinking her coffee. She always tended to work better at night when no one was around. It was the only way she was able to focus. That’s one of the reason she liked being up late at night; no one was around to bother her. 

“Alright, how about this.” Mily offered. “I picked the topic of music. And…maybe you could pick what time period we look into?” 

“Hmm. Are you making a deal with me, Mildew?” Jerome raised an eyebrow. 

“Maybe I am,  _ Clark _ .” she nudged him in the shoulder. “I’m telling you, I’m not going to be pulling your weight for this project. I expect full participation.” 

“Ughh, fine.” he leaned his head back and groaned. “I’m suddenly regretting what I signed up for.” 

“It was your choice.” Mily chuckled at him before the bell rang; signalling the end of the day. The two picked up their bags and headed back to Anubis House with Mily trying to convince Jerome to get excited about the project on the entire way. They tended to walk together more often; not that either of them had noticed any difference. The two were just as oblivious as another pair of sleuthing teenagers. 

By the time they reached the house, most of their housemates were already back and working on different things. Mily quickly ran upstairs, changed into a loose button down top and a pair of ripped jeans, and then made her way back downstairs. 

“Yes!” Mily turned her head to see Patricia sitting on the couch; laptop open. “I’ve got an email from Joy!” 

“Really?” there was a chorus of mumbling as everyone besides Nina gathered around Patricia to see the email. 

“That’s great.” Fabian grinned. Mily turned to look back at Nina; who’s smile had faltered just a bit at the boys comment. She sent the girl a sympathetic smile before turning back to Patricia.

“What does she say?” Mily asked. 

“ _ Hi, Patricia _ !” Alfie exclaimed in what he would like to have called an impression of Joy. Patricia rolled her eyes before continuing to read. 

“Hold on I’ll read it.” she opened the message. “Hi, Patricia-” 

“That settles it, I’m psychic!” Patricia glared at Alfie before continuing to read on. 

“Anyway just wanted to let you know that I'm fine. I know it probably seemed a bit odd of me disappearing like that, but dad's business went under and he needed to get me out of there ASAP. I was a bit shocked myself. Hope you are all okay and not missing me too much. Love, Joy.” Patricia’s face scrunched up at the end. “There’s no smiley face at the end.”

Patricia’s criticism of the message sent the rest of the group groaning in annoyance. It seemed no matter what, Patricia was still suspicious of Joy’s disappearance.  

“Joy always puts a smiley face at the end.” she criticized. “  _ And  _ there’s no text speak. It’s all written out like properly. ” 

“Joy’s learned to spell at last, hooray!” Jerome threw his hands up in the air in exaggeration before getting up off the couch. 

“And it’s from a new email address?” 

“Sometimes I use text speak in emails, and sometimes I don’t.” Mara offered the girl a kind smile before placing a hand on her shoulder. 

“And a new email address makes sense if she’s moved house.” Fabian piped in. Patricia let out a sigh before closing her computer. 

“I guess you’re right,” Patricia turned around to face the group. “Sorry, I bet I’ve been driving you all crazy.” 

“No,” 

“Yes-”

“Especially you Nina.” Patricia offered the girl a look of regret.

“Nothing a few years of counselling won’t fix.” Nina shrugged. 

“I guess I might have taken things a little too far…” 

“It’s really okay, Patricia.” Nina cut her off. “You were just worried about your friend. I’m just glad she’s safe.”

“Can somebody help me take this food to the table please?” Trudy piped in from the kitchen. Patricia offered to help and made her way into the kitchen. Mily sighed in relief; glad that Patricia was done being mean to Nina. Hopefully, anyway. 

“Hey guys, guess  _ what _ ?” everyone turned their heads to see Amber and Mick standing in the doorway; both huge smiles on their faces. 

“Mick and I have made up!” Amber held onto his hand with a vice grip; having never been happier about the situation. Mily glanced over at Alfie, who was trying his best to smile for the two. 

“Aw, that’s great guys…” he trailed off. Mily caught his eye and offered him a sympathetic smile; knowing what was probably going through his mind. 

“And we’re having a party to celebrate. Tomorrow night.” Amber grinned at Mick. “And you’re all invited.” 

“Great.” as soon as the couple left, Alfie groaned and put his head in his hands. Seeing how distraught he was, Mily went over and sat on the couch next to him; placing a hand on his shoulder. 

“I shouldn’t have believed him.” he mumbled. 

“Believed who?” Mily questioned him. 

“Jerome.” Alfie turned to face the brunette. “He said that in no time me and Amber would be a thing. As if that would have ever happened-” 

“Hey,” she cut him off. “Don’t talk like that about yourself.” 

“But it’s true-” 

“No it isn’t. You’re a great guy, Alfie. Anyone can see that.” she moved so that she was criss cross applesauce. “It’s just bad timing is all. Amber has liked Mick since eighth grade. She’s just not over him, and he’s not over her.” 

“I get it.” he frowned. “Even if she wasn’t dating Mick, I don’t think that she’d want to go out with me.” 

“Well, you won’t know until that day comes.” Mily reasoned. “Look, I’m not telling you this so that you continue to pine away after her while she’s dating Mick. But people change over time. There may come a day when you and Amber are perfect for eachother.” 

“You really think so?” Alfie looked up at her. 

“I think it’s possible.” Mily nodded. “Just don’t beat yourself up, okay? You’re a good guy and someone will pick up on that.” 

“Thanks, Mils. You really do know how to cheer people up.” he grinned. 

“So I’ve been told.” she repeated. “Now come on, I think dinner is about to be served.” 

The two of them joined the rest of their house for a drama free dinner; the first in a while. Mily was pleased to see that all of her friends were getting along. Between Mick and Amber not getting at each other, Patricia leaving Nina be, and Alfie not pining over Amber, Mily could finally relax for a moment and just breathe. 

As dinner came to an end, most people went up to wash up before bed and finish up any extra bits of homework they had to do. Normally, that’s what Mily would be doing. However, tonight she was stuck on dish duty with Patricia. Dish duty wasn’t terrible, she would just rather be doing her work. Nonetheless, she currently scrubbing the ketchup off of the dinner plates while Patricia dried what she washed. 

“So, are you glad to hear back from Joy? I bet that helped to ease your nerves.” Mily asked Patricia as she scrubbed at a particularly hard spot. There was no answer from the red head. Mily figured maybe the idea of Joy was still a tough spot for Patricia, so she changed topic. 

“I talked to Alfie before dinner, and I may have gotten him off of Amber for some time.” she explained. “It took some explaining, but he’s no longer sad about Mick.” 

When there was still no answer, Mily turned to face the girl. Patricia stood there with a frown on her face; barely acknowledging that Mily was even talking to her. 

“Is there a reason you’re ignoring me?” 

“You know what you did.” Patricia answered curtly. Mily furrowed her eyebrows. 

“What I did? I didn’t do anything.” she was puzzled.

“You took  _ her  _ side, that’s what you did.” 

“Patricia, you were bullying her. And it turned out we were all right. Nina had nothing to do with it.” 

“Doesn’t matter.” Patricia threw down the rag. “Best friends stick up for each other; even if they are wrong sometimes.” 

“There’s a difference between being wrong, and making someone feel like they aren’t welcome.” she argued back. “You poured water on her, made fun of her, told her her grandmother was getting rid of her. You made her cry, Patricia.” 

“You still should have had my back, I had no idea where Joy was. How would you feel if your life was falling apart and your friends didn’t stick up for you?” 

“It doesn’t excuse the fact that you were being cruel, Patricia.” Patricia glared at the girl before throwing down her rag and storming off; leaving Mily to finish the dishes. Mily rolled her eyes at the girl’s childish antics and began to finish the rest of the dishes; washing and drying them for the next half an hour. She should have known that Patricia was still going to be pissy about the whole situation. The girl had never been known to back down out of an argument. She’d see to it that she won whether she was right or wrong.

“You still finishing the dishes?” 

“Jesus!” Mily exclaimed before accidentally dropping the plate in her hands; sending pieces of broken ceramic everywhere. She’d been so focused and lost in thought that she hadn’t heard someone coming up behind her. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Fabian standing by the counter. 

“Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.” 

“It’s alright, Fabian.” Mily got on her knees and began to pick up pieces of the broken plate while Fabian moved to get the trashcan from across the room. 

“I didn’t know you washed dishes so intently.” he chuckled, helping her pick up the shards. 

“I normally don’t.” she shrugged. “Just got lost thinking is all.” 

“What were you-” 

“Shit!” Mily gasped as a particularly sharp piece of the plate sliced through her palm. She shook her her hand, hoping to stop it from hurting, only to find that there was a small cut from where the shard scratched her. 

“Oh my gosh you’re bleeding!” Fabian exclaimed before quickly moving to grab something to cover the cut. Mily wasn’t paying attention however, because as soon as she noticed the slightest drop of blood on her hand she immediately shut her eyes; fighting off the urge to pass out. 

Mily wasn't it good with handling blood. She never had been ever since she was a small child. Whenever she saw blood, even just the faintest amount of it, she would immediately begin to feel light headed. More times than she could count, the situation would end with her sprawled out on whatever surface she would hit first. 

“You okay?” 

“Y-yeah, I just,” she swallowed thickly. “I d-don’t do well with…you know…” 

“Oh! Okay, well erm,” Fabian wrapped a cloth napkin around the girls palm before placing a hand on her back. “Are you okay to stand?” 

Mily gave a hesitant nod before making her way to her knees; attempting to stand up. She was able to get to her feet without help from Fabian and opened her eyes for a second to see where she was going. Bad mistake on her part, because out of the corner of her eyes she noticed the blood leaking through the napkin and began to pitch forward. 

“Woah!” Fabian was quick to act and placed his hands underneath her arms; keeping her upright. “Let’s get you to the couch, alright?” 

“Sorry, I j-just-” 

“Hey, don’t apologize alright?” Fabian led Mily over to the couch and helped her to sit down. He’d never been in this kind of a situation before so he wasn’t exactly sure what he was supposed to do. The girl had her head tilted down just enough that he was worried she was going to nosedive off of the couch.  

“Still dizzy?” he pulled up the coffee table and sat in front of her. 

“I’m not sure.” Mily opened her eyes slowly; tucking her hand in her lap so that she wouldn’t see any more of it. She blinked a few times before her eyes focused on Fabian’s worried face in front of her. Even though she couldn't see the cut, just the thought of it being there was enough to make her stomach churn. She closed her eyes in an attempt to make the nausea and bout of lightheadedness go away. 

“I’m going to take that as a yes.” Fabian said with a slight chuckle, though still concerned. “I had no idea you were  _ this _ bad with blood.” 

“Most people don’t.” Mily offered him a small smile. “I try not to let it bother me too much, but every now and then I just can’t help it when-.” 

“I thought I heard voices.” the two of them looked over to see Trudy walking into the living room clad in pajamas and her fuzzy fuchsia robe. “What are you two still doing up? It’s nearly past your bedtime.” 

“It’s nothing-” 

“It’s my fault, Trudy.” Fabian spoke up. “I accidentally scared her and she dropped a plate and cut her hand. She’s not good with blood.” 

“Oh my goodness!” 

“I just got a bit dizzy is all, really it’s nothing.” Trudy ignored every word Mily said before taking Fabian’s spot and crouching in front of her. 

“You do look pale. Can I see the cut?” Mily nodded before lifting her hand for Trudy to see. In the process, she looked up at the ceiling in order to not think about the blood on her finger; taking a deep breath.  

“It’s just a small cut, nothing that a bandage won’t fix.” Trudy gently placed her hand back in her lap. “Are you still feeling dizzy?” 

“Not as much, no. Just tired.” 

“I bet you are.” Trudy nodded. “Well, I’m going to fetch you a bandage and then we’ll bring you upstairs to bed, yeah?” 

As Trudy walked into the kitchen in order to find the first aid kit, Fabian offered Mily a sympathetic smile which Mily returned. Despite how calmly Fabian was handling the situation, Mily still felt embarrassed about the whole thing. 

“Sorry about all of this.” she rubbed her pointer finger against the bridge of her nose.  

“Hey, don’t apologize.” Fabian sat down on the couch next to her. “You shouldn’t be sorry about things you can’t control.” 

“I know I just,” she frowned. “You clearly had somewhere to be and I held you up.” 

“Seriously, Mily, please don’t apologize. I wasn’t in a rush or anything, really.”  

“If you don’t mind me asking, where were you sneaking off to when you came down here?” Fabian blushed at the question before trying to stutter out an answer. “It’s okay if you don’t want to answer. I was just curious.” 

“Just to do some late night studying with Nina.” Fabian explained. 

“I’m sure that’s all you’re up to.” Mily teased; causing Fabian to turn even redder. 

“That’s n-not- I mean-” 

“It’s really alright Fabian. I’m just joking.” she tapped his shoulder. “But you know you two would be really cute together.” 

Before they knew it, Trudy was back in the living room with the first aid kit and a glass of water. She handed Mily the glass, ordering her to drink it before beginning to clean off the cut on her hand. Trudy took out a cotton ball and after unwrapping her hand, she began to wipe away all of the blood. With every swipe of the cotton ball, Mily had to take a deep breath because just imagining the cut was beginning to make her nauseous. Fabian sat next to her and let her squeeze his hand whenever she felt really bad. 

“There we go.” Trudy finished wrapping the bandage, and examined a job well done.  “Do you think you’re able to stand?” 

“I think so.” Unlike the last time, Mily was able to get on her feet without toppling over. She was still kind of lightheaded, but mostly she was just exhausted. All she wanted to do was curl up into her bed and sleep for a week. 

“Now dearie, you are to head to bed. It’s almost ten o'clock and Victor will have a fit if you’re still running about.” Trudy ordered Fabian before placing an arm around Mily’s shoulder. 

“Good luck on your studying, Fabian.” Mily didn’t need to look back at him to know he was blushing again before he dashed off to his bedroom. She chuckled to herself and allowed Trudy to guide her up the stairs and into her bedroom. They were barely in the room when Mily decided the best idea was to flop down on to her bed; not bothering to change into pajamas. 

“Now you just rest up dearie, okay?” Trudy tucked the girl into her covers before placing a hand on her forehead. “And you call me if you need anything.” 

“Thank you, Trudy.” she offered her a smile before snuggled deeper into her covers. There hadn’t been an incident with blood in a long time before that night. She’d been able to get away by avoiding certain horror movies and making sure to always look away 

Nonetheless, Mily slept dreamlessly for the first time in quite a while. 

It wasn’t until the next morning that she woke up; her eyes blinking awake to the sun already shining through her window. As much as Mily wanted to groan in annoyance that she slept through the sunrise, she couldn’t help but be grateful for the extra hours. She was going to need them if she was to get through the day. She slowly sat up in bed before looking at the clock on her nightstand. Her eyes widened as noticed the time. The clock read that it was already passed second period and she nearly cried out in frustration. 

As quickly as she could, Mily changed into a fresh uniform and put her books into her bag before heading down to the kitchen. Breakfast was already cleaned up since everyone was already in class, but Mily figured she could get by on some toast for the day. By the time she had taken out the bread, Trudy walked into the kitchen with a basket of laundry in her hands. 

“Morning, Trudy.” she offered the middle aged woman a kind smile, which she immediately returned with a frown as she placed the basket on the floor. 

“Why aren’t you in bed?” 

“I have to get to school, I’ve already missed the first two classes.” she looked puzzled. 

“I’ve already called you out of classes. After last night, I don’t want you falling over in the hallways.” Mily groaned softly before pacing down her school bag. 

“Trudy I’m fine, really-” 

“Dearie, I know that you like to keep up with your school work, but your health comes first. I’m sure one of the others can bring you back your work at lunchtime.” Mily frowned before coming up with an idea. 

“How about I stay here until lunch and then go to classes after?” she reasoned. “There’s still at least another two hours before lunch even starts.” 

Trudy frowned at the girl; crossing her arms over her chest before eyeing the girl up and down. Mily tried her best to not look like she was going to keel over any time soon. Eventually, Trudy dropped her arms and her face relaxed. 

“Well, I suppose if it really means that much to you.” Mily grinned at her; thankful she was able to convince her. “But, I expect you to rest up until then, are we clear?” 

“Yes Trudy.” she nodded before going over to hug the house mother. 

“Are you hungry? I’ll whip you up something for breakfast.” 

“It’s really not necessary-” 

“Nonsense,” Trudy ignored her remarks before getting out a pan and mixing bowl. “You’re going to need your strength if you’re going back to school today. No ifs, ands or buts.” 

“Alright.” Mily sighed before leaning against the counter top. 

“How about some french toast? I know it’s your favorite.” Mily couldn't help but grin as she watched Trudy take out the ingredients. Trudy’s french toast was a favorite among everyone. Even Amber, who insisted carbs would be the end of the world, would kill for a piece of Trudy’s french toast. It was Mily’s favorite thing Trudy made. 

“So, did anyone ask why I wasn’t going to school?” Mily asked as a glass of water was placed in front of her. Trudy’s maternal skills always kicked in whenever any of the kids were around. 

“I just told them you were having a bit of a run with allergies.” she explained while soaking the bread in the egg and cinnamon mixture. “I figured you wouldn’t want everyone knowing about last night.” 

“Trudy, you’re amazing and no one tells you this enough.” Both of the girls chuckled before a large pile of french toast was pushed in front of Mily. There were at least six pieces of the stuff on her plate and she felt almost full just looking at it. 

“Aren’t you going to have any, Trudy?” 

“I have too much to do. Besides, you need to keep up your strength.” Mily frowned at this; not liking how Trudy was putting aside her well being in order to finish household chores. 

“Well so do you, Trudy.” Mily ignored her protests and got out an extra plate before piling three pieces onto it. She handed the plate to Trudy; not willing to take no for an answer. 

“Come on, it’ll only take a few minutes. You’re always running around and it’s about time you take a well deserved break.” Mily grinned as Trudy accepted the plate and pulled out two forks from the drawer. 

“Oh, thank you dearie.” she grinned as the two of them at the french toast; Mily enjoying every bite of it. Eventually, they both finished up with their breakfast and Trudy sent Mily upstairs to sleep until lunch was over. She didn’t realize how tired she really was until she plopped down on to her bed. In about a minute, she was out like a light. 


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!!! Sorry for the terribly long wait, I've had the busiest like month and a half with graduation and all that jazz. I've actually had this chapter written for a while but was waiting to find the time to post. So I hope you like it!

A soft knock on her door was what woke Mily up from her sleep. Blinking awake, she walked over to her door to see Amber standing in front of her. Normally, she would have expected Amber to just waltz into her room when she needed to tell the girl something. So when she realized it was Amber who knocked, she began to grow concerned. 

“Amber?” she yawned. “What’s up?” 

“Oh, sorry I didn’t mean to wake you…” she spoke softly. “I can come back another time-” 

“No, no, come in.” Mily pulled the door open: allowing Amber to make hey way into the room. Closing the door, she crossed her arms and waited for Amber to start talking. The blonde girl fiddled with one of her bracelets before looking up at Mily. 

“I hate her, Mily.” her posture faltered; tears beginning to well up in her eyes. “I hate her.” 

“Hey, come here.” she immediately pulled the girl into her arms; giving Amber a shoulder to cry on. She was alarmed, to say the least. It wasn’t that she’d never seen the girl cry before, obviously she had. This time however, it felt different. She wasn’t just crying, she was angry. Heartbroken. 

“It’s gonna be okay, whatever it is.” she pulled away from the girl and led her to sit on the bed. “Now tell me, who do you hate?” 

“Mara.” 

“ _ Mara _ ?” she questioned. “What did she do?” 

“I thought she was my friend.” Amber went on. “All those times I trusted her, when I talked about Mick and I. But she was just using me to get closer to him.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I overheard her and Patricia talking in the bathroom.” she looked down at her shoes. “She was saying how we have nothing in common, Mick and I, and that she was glad when we broke up.” 

“Are you serious?” Mily she rubbed a hand up and down Amber’s back in comfort. “I’m so sorry.” 

“She doesn’t think we’re right for eachother.” she sniffled. “I know that everyone thinks that I’m just dumb-” 

“No one thinks that-” 

“-but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have feelings. I really like Mick. And he really likes me back. We had a falling out but, that doesn’t mean that we aren’t right for each other.” 

Mily couldn’t help but feel her heart ache for her friend. It seemed that Amber was just turning into a play thing for other people’s feelings and love lives and she didn’t like it. Amber might not have been as smart as Mara, but that didn’t mean that she was someone they could push aside. It only just struck Mily how hard this must have been on Amber, with everyone seemingly against her and Mick being an item. 

“Mara, is wrong.” Mily started; Amber turning to face her. “She might like Mick, but it’s really shitty if she's willing to put her friends aside for a guy. Especially when he’s already dating someone.” 

“She’s such a-” 

“And,” Mily cut her off. “We’re going to show her just how wrong she is. The party is tonight, yeah? Well you’re going to just have to show everyone how right for eachother you are.” 

“I guess…” Amber trailed off. 

“We’ll get ready together,  _ and  _ you can even help me pick out what I’m wearing.” 

“Really?” her eyes widened; suddenly excited. “Because I have just the perfect dress for you to wear. I’ve been thinking that it will help you impress you know  _ who _ .” 

Mily rolled her eyes, but didn’t have the heart to bother trying to stop Amber when she was finally starting to cheer up. 

“Fine, but nothing too fancy alright?” she chuckled. “No sequins, that’s all I ask.” 

“Done, and done.” the girl smiled brightly at her before dragging her off to school and telling her all about how she was going to be doing her hair and makeup for the party. Mily didn’t particularly care, but she made sure to listen so as to not be rude. She knew how important this was for Amber, and she meant every word that she said back there. It wasn’t right what Mara was doing and she was going to make sure that they had a good night together. 

The rest of the day went by slowly; most people too excited about the party to pay attention to anything. It was just what they needed after a stressful week of school they’d had. Mily herself was more tired than anything. Trudy made sure to pack two water bottles in her bad so that she would drink enough, along with putting Fabian up to the task of checking in with Mil to make sure she was feeling alright. She’d forgotten just how motherly Trudy could be to the students. 

“Okay, I’m going to go and get out all of my makeup.” Amber gushed as she and Mily made their way into Anubis House. 

“Amber, it’s just a party.” 

“And I’m taking it as my opportunity to give you a makeover.” she pointed her finger at the girl. “I better see you in my room in five minutes. We have a  _ lot _ to do.” 

“I’ll be up in a bit, I just have to get something.” Mily waved as the blonde made her way upstairs. She was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go and take a nap. Unfortunately for her, a pot of coffee was going to have to do. Mily went into the kitchen and set a pot on; yawning as she leaned against the counter. 

“Someone looks like they could use a nap.” she turned as Trudy walked into the kitchen; cookie trays in hand. “I was just getting ready to bake for the party. Anything I can get you?” 

“Nope, just making some coffee.” she shrugged. Trudy of course ignored her and came over to examine the girl. 

“You don’t look as pale anymore, which is good.” Mily batted away her hand as she reached up to feel her forehead. 

“Trudy, being dizzy doesn’t give you a fever.” 

“I know, but I’m just checking. I don’t want you partying too hard and fainting-” 

“I’m fine.” she insisted before pouring herself a cup of coffee. “I promise I won’t push myself, okay?” 

“Alright, alright, but I’ll be keeping an eye out for you.” she insisted, before leaving to fetch more ingredients for whatever she was about to make for the party. Mily couldn’t help but grin as she watched the small woman bustle away. She knew that despite how stressed out Trudy seemed, she lived for things like this. It gave her an excuse to go baking crazy, which she always enjoyed doing. In the meantime, Mily took her absence as an opportunity to pour herself coffee, and head up stairs to her room before Trudy could fret over her any more. 

She was surprised to find that upon entering her room, a pile of dresses and shoes had found its way onto her bed. Along with this, bottles of hair spray and perfume were lined up on her vanity, and there was a box full of makeup right beside them. 

“What’s all this?” she closed the door behind her and attempted to set her coffee on the vanity, or whatever room there was left of it. 

“What we need to get ready for the party, duh.” she retorted, as if this was something Mily was supposed to know. 

“Yeah, but does that require your entire wardrobe scattered across my room?” 

“As if this was all my wardrobe.” the blonde chuckled. “This is only like one fourth of it. I only grabbed the best to decide between.” 

“Well, I guess let’s get started then?” Mily couldn’t help but laugh, looking around the room. Amber squealed before grabbing the girl and placing her into the chair of her vanity. With that they had begun. Between the two of them, it took around an hour and a half to get ready. Mily hadn’t fully understood just how intense Amber’s beauty regime was. They started out doing face masks while they worked on each other's hair; Mily of course curling Ambers while Amber straightened Mily’s so that it hung just above her shoulders. She still wasn’t fully used to her new short hair, but she was beginning to like it. 

After they finished their hair, Amber had her heart set on doing Mily’s makeup. Normally, Mily was fully capable of doing her own makeup: having had so much experience doing it with the different productions she had been a part of. However, had she denied Amber the chance, she would have heard about it until the day they graduated. So that’s how Mily ended up sitting in her vanity chair with Amber putting on the finishing touches of Mily’s makeup. 

“All I’m saying is you should be plucking your eyebrows weekly.” Mily groaned; attempting not the move as Amber continued to brush at her brows. 

“Not in my life.” Mily chuckled. “Do you understand how painful that was?” 

“No one ever said being beautiful was painless and easy.” she shrugged. “Besides, you have to look presentable if you ever want to get with Jerome-” 

“How many times do I have to tell you, there’s nothing going on between us.” Mily pulled away; looking the girl in the eyes. “We’re just friends.” 

“That’s what they  _ all _ say.” she responded. 

“Why do you have your heart set on us getting together?” Mily argued. 

“And why do you have your set against it?” Amber retaliated back. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about-” 

“Every time I bring it up, you insist that there’s  _ no _ chance of you two ever happening.” Amber shrugged before spraying Mily’s face with setting spray. “Would you and Jerome dating be such a bad thing?” 

Given this food for thought, Mily sat in the chair for a second. She had never really gave the idea any thought; just that it was never going to happen. It  _ was _ Jerome they were talking about; the king of selfishness and scheming the system. Jerome was the type who could probably go through highschool and dat eno one; just ogle at different girls while he took the rest of his time for his many “business”. She’d never even considered that they would work, much less whether she wanted to or not. 

“I just…I dunno. I never really thought of him as the dating type.” Amber frowned as Mily’s cheeks turned red in embarrassment. 

“Really? I mean, it’s kind of obvious that he’s taken a liking to you. Well, to me anyway.” 

“And how would you know whether or not he liked me?” Mily raised an eyebrow. 

“Well, just take a look at this semester for example. In the beginning, he was dummping water over your head and ruining your computer. Maybe there were a few more pranks in between, but has he even pranked you recently?” Mily’s eyebrows furrowed at the thought. Come to think of it, she hadn’t been pranked by either of them in the last week or so. It was odd. Amber seemed to pick up on her realization, but instead of further prodding at the girl, she decided it would be best to change the subject and let Mily think it over. 

“Your makeup is all done. What do you think?” Amber turned her to face the mirror, allowing Mily to look up and see the work she had done. It was simple, but way better than anything Mily could have done. She had gone with a soft light pink eyeshadow and just a bit of shine in the inner corners of her eyes. Her skin looked smooth and there was just a bit of highlight on her cheekbones. 

“Oh, Amber it looks amazing.” she smiled up at her friend who beamed down at her proudly. “You didn’t have to go to all this trouble for little ole’ me.”

“Nonsense, it’s about time someone’s given you a makeover. You’re going to outshine every girl at the party. Well, except for me.” Mily chuckled before getting out of the chair and over to her wardrobe to change.

“And what do you think you’re doing?” 

“Um, getting out what I’m going to wear?” Amber sighed before steering Mily away from the wardrobe; closing its doors and bring her over to the dresses sitting on her bed.  

“I already told you, I have something picked out for you.” she picked up a box that looked as though it’d only been opened once before handing it to her. 

“Daddy bought this for me at the start of term. Said it was for a job well done, or something like that.” she explained to Mily. “It’s  _ way _ too simple for my taste: not my style at all, but it’s perfect for you.” 

“Are you sure?” Mily opened the box. I

“Positive.” Amber reassured her, as the girl marvelled at it’s simple elegant flare. “Besides, I’ve had my eye on this sparkly dress in the back of my closet, and Mick _ loves  _ when I wear sparkles.” 

Once the two had gotten dressed and were ready, they made their way downstairs to help set up the party. Well, Mily made her way to help set up the party. Amber mostly went to hang out with Mick; insisting that the two needed to be ready for when their guests arrived. She didn’t mind helping out, seeing as Amber was positively glowing at all the attention she was about to get. As long as Amber had a good time at the party, she didn’t really mind if she was helping do most of the work. 

“Well, don’t you look lovely!” Mily turned to see Trudy making her way across the kitchen with an oven mit clad hand holding a tray of lemon cookies. 

“Thanks Trudy.” she grinned before walking over to the counter. “Do you need any help with anything?”

“Could you just be a dear and put these onto the table? There’s an extra oven mitt in the drawer and there’s already a hot pad on the table for them to go on.” Mily nodded before opening the drawer and pulling out the mitt. Taking the cookies from Trudy, she made her way into the living room and placed them on the hot pad Trudy had been talking about. 

In just a matter of ten minutes, the house was soon filled with the many kids from their class. Everyone was either eating food, dancing on the dance floor, or for some, snogging in the corner of the room. For Amber, the party was going on smashingly. Most people had found their way to saying hi to the couple, and they had been inseparable the entire time. 

So far, Mily had mostly kept to herself; nibbling at the different cookies Trudy made while people continued to dance throughout the night. Out of the corner of her eye, she had watched as Mick and Mara were talking over the chips and dip in the kitchen. Amber must have caught sight of them as well, because soon she was being sweet with Mick; sending him off to grab her something. She was just able to catch the tail end of what Amber had been saying to Mara when she walked over. 

“-don’t play innocent Mara. I know you like him.” she crossed her arms over her chest. 

“I don’t understand what you’re going on about.” Mara looked confused, before turning to Mily in the hopes she would back her up. “Mily, do you have any idea what she’s going on about?” 

“Mara, she overheard you talking with Patricia in the bathrooms.” Mara knew she had been caught then, and her face turned bright red; suddenly embarrassed for being caught. 

“You were just flirting with him now,” Amber but in, suddenly even angrier that Mara would try to get back up from one of Amber’s close friends. 

“I wasn’t!” 

“Hey, what’s going on?” the three turned their heads to see Patricia walking over. Amber frowned at Mara, before turning to her. 

“Patricia, do you want to swap rooms with me? I know you don’t like sharing with Nina, and I certainly don’t want to share with Mara anymore.” with that Amber stormed off, followed by Mara leaving in embarrassment. 

“What was that all about?” Patricia asked Mily. 

“Amber overheard you and Mara in the bathroom earlier.” Patricia frowned at her, before sighing and leaving to probably go and comfort Mara. Mily rubbed her forehead in aggravation. It seemed there would never be a day of peace a quiet for her. As she turned to go off and find Amber, someone ran smack into her: sending her onto the ground with a thud. 

“Watch where you’re going!” she groaned before looking up to see Alfie standing in front of her; adorned in a t-shirt that looked like a tuxedo and a vampire cape. 

“Sorry, Mils.” he grinned before helping her off of the floor. 

“It’s alright, Alfie.” she shrugged; adjusting herself as she got up. “Having fun then I guess?” 

“Yeah, more than I thought I’d have.” he nodded before pulling a piece of dust off of her shoulder. 

“Sorry that you have to see Amber and Mick being all, mushy and stuff.” Mily offered him a sympathetic grin as they began to walk around the party. 

“Eh, I’ve mostly been avoiding them at all costs. Besides, Jerome is teaching me how to talk to women.” 

“Yeah? And how is that going?” she chuckled; crossing her arms over her chest. 

“Well, maybe not the best. I did get slapped in the face.” Mily laughed, shaking her head. 

“Please, do not listen to a word Jerome says.” she chuckled, shaking her head. “He has no idea what he’s talking about.” 

“Well thanks for the warning, now. Could have used that information before the girl slapped me in the face.” both of them chuckled to themselves. 

“I figured since you were his best friend, you would have figured it out.” 

“You would figure that.” he agreed. “Especially with you two and all.”  

“What does that mean?” she crossed her arms over her chest; turning to face the boy. Alfie immediately went red; seemingly realizing he said something that he probably shouldn’t have. 

“Just…you know…oh look! Trudy put out cake!.” Before Mily could get anything else out of Alfie, he dashed off to get a slice, or five, of Trudy’s chocolate cake. 

“Alfie, what the hell does that mean?” she groaned, placing her head in her hands. She was especially curious after what he had just said. 

“You should know that nothing is going to distract Alfie from getting a piece of that chocolate cake.” she heard someone chuckle from behind. Turning around, she saw Jerome leaning against the banister, fiddling around with the MP3 playing the music. As he turned to look up at her, whatever witty remark he was about to say was forgotten. The smirk on his face was wiped off; replaced by one of almost disbelief as he stared at the girl. Mily crossed her arms, beginning to feel caught off guard by his sudden behavior. 

“What’s wrong? Is there something on my face?” 

“No, no, it’s just…” he motioned to her dress; causing her to bury her head in her hands. The dress Amber had given her was nothing short of perfectly elegant. It was a short, flowy dress with long almost puffy sleeves made of a sheer white fabric and a low v neck. She had paired it with a pair of simple white heels and some hoop earrings of Ambers. 

“Oh, yeah the dress, I know it’s too much. I tried to tell Amber but she insisted that I wear it.” she babbled. “Go ahead, tell me how dumb and silly I look, I know you’re probably itching to.” 

“That wasn’t it at all.” Jerome chuckled, smirk back and he walked toward her. “I was, actually going to say you look rather…stunning.” 

“Oh…” Mily felt her cheeks turn bright red as she looked down at her shoes; chuckling to herself in order to hide her embarrassment. She didn’t know why it was bothering her so much; it was just a simple compliment. A simple compliment from a friend, because that’s what they were: friends. But she couldn’t help but think of what Amber had said earlier. 

_ Maybe there were a few more pranks in between, but has he even pranked you recently? _

He hadn’t been pranking her recently, and now he went from poking fun at her to giving her compliments? To top it all off, there was Alfie’s comment about the whole “her and him” thing which she still didn’t understand. Everything was going weird, and it made her heart beat faster than it should have. She chalked it off to nerves. 

“Thanks.” she tried to offered him a small smile, despite the confusion and embarrassment she felt.  “you um, look handsome as well-” 

“-I’m a party animal!” Both of them immediately turned their attention over to Alfie; who was currently running around the living room with a fake deer head on his head. Jerome couldn’t keep in his laughter as he and Mily both joined in with the rest of the people at the party. Mily was just glad to have something to diffusion the tension and distract her away from Jerome. Everyone else was having a hard time keeping it together as Alfie ran around like a complete idiot. Unfortunately that was as much as they were going to have at the party that night, because Victor was about to unleash all hell on the students. 

“ENOUGH!” the room immediately went silent as Victor entered; red in the face with anger. “Turn that racket off.” 

Victor glared at Jerome, who fumbled to turn off whatever rap song had been playing over the sound speaker. Mily watched as Victor began to quick sweep of the room with his eyes; seeking out each and every one of them. 

“Anyone who doesn’t live here, out! The party is over.” Mily had never seen her classmates move as fast as they did in that moment; leaving only her and the rest of Anubis house to deal with Victor’s wrath. She hadn’t meant to, but Mily had all but backed into Jerome, who had a protective hand on her shoulder; though she didn’t even notice do to the looking threat of Victor currently hanging over their heads. 

“And you,” Victor rounded, making his way over to Alfie. “How  _ dare  _ you mess about with that. Take it off of your head immediately.” 

Alfie, startled by Victor’s voice, attempted at taking the deer head off. His hands were trying to grip at the edges just above his shoulders, but he wasn’t able to get a grip and the head just wouldn't seem to budge. 

“Did you hear what I said?” 

“I can’t, it’s stuck!” Alie yelled out; causing the rest of the group to break out into snickers: all except Mily, who had gone still and silent as she watched Victor become angry once more. 

“Stop laughing!” everyone went quiet as Victor raised his voice. “I’ve had enough of you vermin. Who has got the spare key to the attack?” 

Mily could feel the tension in the room almost double: everyone knew where the spare attic key was. She didn’t want to look over at Nina and give away their position, and she was hoping that no one else did either.

“I know somebody’s been up to the attic. Tonight, as a matter of fact.” Victor rocked back and forth on his feet; stepping in front of each of them. His immediate anger had been replaced with a much calmer look; like a cat having caught it’s prey in a trap. He knew he had them, and was just waiting for the first person to crack. Everyone had gone rigid; no one wanting to be the person that broke the facade. However, they were all thinking the same thing: we’re screwed. 

“Oh, yes you all think you’re _ so  _ clever. But you are not as clever as me.” When no one spoke, his facade almost broke and he yelled out, “WHO HAS IT?” 

“It’s really hot in here.” Mily turned her head to see Alfie across the room; still in the deer head and almost slumping over. “I can’t breathe.” 

“Well then we shall have to saw it off, shan’t we?” 

“Saw?!” no one could have missed the alarm in Alfie’s voice as Victor grabbed the dear head by the antlers and began to drag Alfie out of the room. 

“Oh yes. As for the rest of you, wait here.” he turned back and stuck a finger out at the group before leaving to remove the deer head from Alfie’s head. As soon as they were all positive that he wasn’t going to be coming downstairs any time soon, all hell broke loose. 

“What do we do?” Mily looked around at everyone, who seemed to be freaking out at the prospect of how much trouble they were about to get in. No one had really thought about the key since they came out of the attic that night, and it looked like it was going to bite them in the ass. Instead of waiting for Victor to come downstairs and sniff it out of them, Mily watched as Nina quickly made a dash out of the living room. 

“What’s she doing?” Amber asked out loud; looking around to the others for answers. 

“Hopefully fixing this.” Mily nodded. Within about five minutes time, she was back downstairs with the rest of them; looking out of breath and slightly flustered. 

“What did you do with it?” Fabian asked. 

“I left it on the floor.” 

“You left it on the floor?!” Jerome scolded, before Mily set a hand on his shoulder. 

“I know it’s not the best idea, but at least if he has it he can’t search us for it.” 

“Nina’s right.” Mily spoke up before offering a nod of acknowledgement to the American. “It’s better that he has it. That way he can’t pin it directly to any of us. As far as he knows, it could be any one of us.” 

“And why should we take the rap for you, huh?” Mily spun to look at Jerome; furrowing her eyebrows. 

“Because, if you’ve forgotten Jerome, you guys were the ones who put Nina up to it. It’s your fault she took the key in the first place.” Before she could defend her any further, they were interrupted by Victor walking back into the room; key in hand. 

“Oh yes, very clever. Very clever indeed.” he scanned the lot of them; eyeing them like a shark would its prey. “Who put this on the floor outside my office? Was it you?” 

“No.” he went down the line; questioning each of them as to whether they were the one who slipped it underneath the door. Eventually, he rounded and made his way towards Mily. He sauntered forward towards her and the look that he gave her- 

- _ was cold and filled with anger, and he was so angry about the mud on the floor-  _

“-understand what I asked you?” 

She blinked, not realizing that he had said anything. He was now in front of her; towering above her and causing her to back up into Jerome. 

“Je suis désolé je-” 

“In English, Miss Bellefleur-” 

“It was me!” everyone turned their gaze to Nina; who looked as if she had just regretted making the biggest decision of her life. Victor, seemingly satisfied at getting one of them to confess, began to make his way over to her. Mily allowed herself to release the breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. 

“Aha!” 

“No!” Everyone turned to look at Fabian who had all but stepped out in front of Nina. “She’s covering for me. I did it.” 

“You?” he looked skeptical. 

“Yes, Guilty as charged.”

“No, he’s lying. It was me.” Nina pleaded to Victor, who looked like he was losing his patience.

“Well, make up your minds, which one of you was it?” 

“Me,” heads turned towards Mick; who looked as if he wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing, and more like he was just joining in on the fun. “I did it.” 

“What?” 

“I did it.” Mick responded. “Total key thief.” 

“Actually, he’s lying.” the shy voice of Mara spoke out. “It was me, Victor.” 

It seemed as if they were all in agreement as to what was happening, and the thought of her friends sticking up for each other only brought a smile to Mily’s face. Mick turned to Amber, almost as if to say,  _ it’s your turn _ . At first she didn’t quite understand what was happening, but eventually something must have sparked in her mind.

“Oh yeah!” she grinned, finally understanding, before turning serious again. “I mean no. It wasn’t her, it was me. I love to steal keys,  _ so _ much.” 

“Actually, it was me.” Mily couldn't help the grin on her face as Patricia crossed her arms and glared at Victor; it seemed that even though she didn’t quite like the American, she was rather willing to stick up for her compared to Victor.

“En fait, ils mentent tous.” Victor rounded; spinning on his heels as he glared down at Mily. The glare he gave her still sent chills down her back. She couldn’t quite figure out why it seemed so familiar to her or why it freaked her out so much, but she put that aside in light of the situation. 

“Je suis celui qui a volé la clé.”

“Do you all play me for a fool?” he spat at them. Victor turned right from Mily to Jerome; who had been standing next to her and very still the entire time. An eerie sort of smile fell onto his face as he placed his hands behind his back and spoke to Jerome. 

“Jerome, I know I can rely on you.” he remarked before looking him dead in the eye. “Who was it?” 

The room was silent as the tension seemed to build to new heights. Everyone knew Jerome was skeptical to take the fall for Nina; he’d only just said it prior to Victor questioning them. Mily was hoping that his selfish nature didn’t come out the one time that they need him to be on their side. 

“It. Was. Me.” he grumbled; fully knowing the amount of trouble they were all about to get into. Mily couldn’t help but beam produly besides him; reaching over and squeezing his hand as a way of saying,  _ thank you _ . While the rest of them celebrated their short lived victory, Victor was raging. 

“That’s it! You’re all grounded for the rest of the weekend!” And with that, they were free of Victor as he peered around and sauntered back up to his office. It seemed all the tension in the room had melted away as the group celebrated the short lived victory with some of the leftover snacks. 

“Man, that was close.” Mara breathed out, taking a brownie from the table. “Good thinking with that whole Spartacus thing, Mick.” 

“Really, really good job, boo.” Amber immediately jumped in; trying not to glare at Mara and instead choosing to smile at Mick instead. After that, the couple walked off; leaving a dejected Mara for Patricia to comfort. Most people had dispersed after that in fact, leaving Mily and Jerome standing in the empty room. Mily watched as Nina and Fabian left the room in hushed whispers, earning a sigh come from Jerome. 

“We nearly all just got expelled, all because those two weren't careful.” Jerome went over to the food table, picking at some of the different desserts. “Next time that they decide to try and get everyone else into trouble, I’m not going to be as lenient.” 

“As lenient?” she crossed her arms over her chest. “You act as if you’re some kind of savior to them.” 

“I practically am. I didn’t have to cover for them. I could have ratted them out and let Nina be shipped off the California, or Nebraska or wherever she came from.’ 

“But you didn't.” Mily walked around the table; coming to face Jerome who was smirking down at her. “You didn’t have to join in and take the blame with everyone. It would have been easy if you’d just ratted her out and none of us would be grounded-” 

“You’re starting to make me regret my decision.” she chuckled to herself before smiling up at him, and playfully punching his shoulder. 

“Thank you. It…means a lot that you took the blame with us.” he looked around the room, before groaning and smiling down at her, pulling her into a side hug. 

“Yeah, yeah, I am sort of like your  _ hero _ -” 

“Now, don’t get cocky with me.” she pushed him away, sticking her tongue out at him. He quickly turned around and held her by her waste; causing her to burst out in laughter. She tried to squirm out of his grasp, but he only ended up wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a hug; Jerome burying his face into her hair. Eventually, they both stopped laughing; pulling away only to look up at each other. Mily blinked; not really paying attention to how close they really were until they were practically leaning face to face. It felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest, and all she could think about was everything Amber had said-  

_ -maybe there were a few more pranks in between, but has he even pranked you recently- _

along with Alfie’s comment-

_ -especially with you two and all- _

not to mention how Jerome had acted when he first saw her-

_ -I was actually going to say you look rather…stunning- _

Suddenly everything was very real to her in that moment.

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that I always solve to hear constructive criticism and comments from readers! It gets me motivated to write more and get chapters out to you as fast as I can. So leave a comment below!!


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